LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




PRACTICE 



IN 



Cotton-Carding, 

A COMPLETE MANUAL FOR THE CARD-ROOM OF THE 
COTTON MILL. 

BY 

JOHN LINDSAY, 

Carding Master. 




PUBLISHED BY THE TEXTILE RECORD. 

425 WALNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



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PRACTICE 



COTTON-CARDING 



A Complete Manual for the Card 
Room of the Cotton Mill. 

With full detailed instructions respecting the opera- 
tion and manipulation of Cotton-cards, with 
instructions respecting the surmounting 
of special difficulties and with all 
necessary calculations. 

/ 

By JOHN LINDSAY, 

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Published by 
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425 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. 
1888. 



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1 




TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Page 
CHAPTER I. 

Preliminary, 
selecting the stock — mixing — some practical sug- 
gestions — doubling on the tapper — opening 
the cotton — notes on the preparation of 

the fibre 5 

CHAPTER II. 
Carding Cotton, 
general reflections on the subject — single card- 
ing — necessary conditions for doing it well — 
double carding and its advantages — card- 
clothing and its proper application .... ii 
CHAPTER III. 
Grinding the Cards, 
preparing a card for the grinder — the best kinds 
of grinders — covering grinders — important 
hints and suggestions — putting the grinder 
on the card — considerations to be carefully 
observed — points about good grinding — the 

care of top-flats — card setting 20 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Sliver, 
importance of even-delivery draw boxes — obtain- 
ing uniform weight — suggestions to that 
end— rremarks upon the coiler— a considera- 
tion of the railway-head — its good qualities 

and its objectionable features '38 

CHAPTER V. 
Various Kinds of Cards, 
the different varieties of carding-engines — 
back-feed and front- feed — the wellman strip- 
per card — the revolving flat — the roller 

CARD 45 

CHAPTER VI. 
Carding Bleached and Colored Cotton, 
causes of difficulties — the need of a moderate, 
even temperature — moisture — the effects of 
light — artificial light — the preservation of 
color — making dyed cotton ready for the 
cards — faulty dyeing — squeezing and extract- 
ing — drying 55 



CHAPTER VII. 

Carding for Combed Yarns. Page 

SKILL REQUIRED FOR THIS PROCESS — GOOD MACHINERY 
NEEDED— POINTS THAT MUST BE LOOKED AFTER — 
THOROUGH CARDING CALLED FOR — USE OF THE 
DRAWING-HEAD — COILERS 69 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Combing the Cotton Fibre, 
the combing machine — fine yarns must be combed — 
the nipper and comb system — capacity of the 
comb — comber-waste — wear and repair — the 
number of the needles — the sliver — cam-mo- 
tions — draft and weight of laps — rules for 

setting the combs 78 

CHAPTER IX. 
Doubling and Drawing the Sliver, 
the question of how many doublings — imperfec- 
tions in drawing — extra doublings not al- 
ways best — improved drawings — importance 
of can-filling 89 

CHAPTER X. 
Drawing and Twisting, 
the slubber — weak parts in the sliver — reme- 
dies for them — slubber-draft regulation and 
roller-setting — the tension of the ends — 
tampering with the let off — the use and 
abuse of doublings — true rolls on speeders — 
the compound-motion explained - duty per- 
formed by the cones 99 

CHAPTER XI. 
Difficulties Practically Overcome, 
the twist in roving good rules — the best method 

OF SIZING SLIVER — SIZING THE FINE DRAWING — 
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS — HANK-TABLE — INFLUENCE 
OF TEMPERATURE ON DRAWING — A CAUSE OF 
UNEVEN NUMBERS — HOW TO TAKE CARE OF 
THE FRAMES — THE PREVENTION OF WASTE — A 
RECEIPT FOR GOOD ROLLER-VARNISH II3 

CHAPTER XII. 

Card room Calculations, 
to find the draft of any machine — drag between 
doffer and calender rolls — draft of rail- 
way-head — other miscellaneous rules for 
making calculations . : 1 27 

4 



CHAPTER I. 

PRELIMINARY. 

Selecting the Stock — Mixing — Some Practical Sugges- 
tions — Doubling on the Lapper — Opening the Cotton 
— Notes on the Preparation of the Fibre. 

Selecting the Stock. — In dealing with the 
difficulties to be met with in picking and carding 
cotton, we must not let the selection of the stock 
and the bearing it has on the strength and uni- 
formity of the thread pass unheeded. No matter 
how well the preparing department may be at- 
tended to, ill-sorted cotton cannot be spun into 
even, fair yarn. Coarse, harsh fibres and those 
of the silky kind will not pick or card together. 
They will not draw or twist together, any better 
than will fibres of diffeient lengths. Both lead to 
bad work, which can only be avoided by proper 
classification. In this business good judgment is 
gained only by close study of the structure, size, 
and general formation of the fibres. The precise 
adaptation of the cotton to the mixing, and there- 
fore to the practical working, becomes a positive 
necessity in all manufacturing establishments 
which work upon progressive principles. .Hence 
comparisons made with regard to the spirality, 



oily matter and general characteristics of the 
staple are very uncertain without microscopic 
aid. Yet in the hands of an expert sampler, the 
mature fibre may be detected from the imma- 
ture, and a mixing prepared from which the 
largest amount of profit can be obtained. 

Mixing the Stock. — The indications of ma- 
tured cotton, which can be discerned without 
mechanical assistance, are creaminess of color, 
spirality of structure, evenness and conformity, 
and consistency and strength. It is always 
understood that the mixing must be suitable to 
the requirements of the counts, and the cotton 
and waste so graded that the goods will be regu- 
lar and saleable. Hence the inferior staple and 
the waste must receive special attention, so that 
too great a proportion of either may not be sorted 
together, and the strength and elasticity of the 
thread thereby at any time impaired. 

The fly, strip and roving waste, as well as that 
picked from the more advanced processes, should 
be run through the opener and made into laps 
so that it can be spread on the mixing with 
greater regularity. The low bales must also 
receive due attention, and have their proper 
courses on the mixing, and the cotton must be 
drawn from a perpendicular face. The manage- 
ment of mixings has a decided effect on the 
general producing powers of the machinery. 
6 



Because in this country we use a better quality 
of stock for the same number than is used else- 
where, that should be no reason why there should 
not be as much thoroughness as possible em- 
ployed in the handling of it, and every practical 
means taken, to insure good work. 

Superior preparation means the smallest pos- 
sible quantity of waste. It keeps the produc- 
tion to the maximum by sending all the fibres 
forward, and takes care that little is returned to 
be paid for over again. Besides, waste invariably 
weakens the yarn, and it also generates nits. 

Experience has taught that the custom of 
opening the bales some time before mixing gives 
the fibre a chance to absorb moisture and to 
recover its natural body. When the stock is 
allowed to release itself in this manner, it works 
better, there is less waste returned, and it removes 
the conditions which cause sticky laps. A 
moderate degree of moisture in the air is very 
necessary where the mixing stands. This is an 
object of importance, inasmuch as it permits less 
electricity in the preparing and the shell, leaf, 
seed and sand are much more easily separated. 

On account of the varying circumstances in 
actual practice, it is impossible to offer here any 
rules to be strictly followed in mixing. Our 
intention is merely to throw such light as has 
been developed by experience on the system of 



classifying the cotton to fit the requirements of 
the different counts, leaving it to the judgment of 
the practical manager if there is any room for 
improvement in his present methods, or whether 
there is such attention paid to the mixing of the 
stock as will prevent irregular spinning. 

Opening. — The work required from the 
opener is such as to necessitate a considerable 
degree of care. This machine takes the place of 
the willow, now almost obsolete, and contends 
with the material in its rude state. The lumps 
fed on must not be very bulky, else the rollers 
cannot compress them without rising out of gear 
and breaking the continuity of the lap, thus caus- 
ing such confusion as often results in breakages 
and lengthy stops. The sand is very trouble- 
some here, and is likely to choke the channels of 
egress prepared for it. If these are not cleaned 
often and well, the duties assigned to this ma- 
chine will be left to others in which the facilities 
for purifying are not sufficient, and the seeds and 
motes are therefore -carried forward. The burden 
devolving on the cards is materially lightened 
when the machines which open the fibre and 
egest the seeds and foreign matter are intelli- 
gently handled. 

An opener (unless there be a preparer attached) 
ought to have but one beater. In this instance 
the labor-saving idea has proceeded too far, to 
8 



the detriment of the quality of the production. 
This is the place above all others in which there 
is ample accommodation, as well as opportunity, 
to mix and remix the stock, and to make certain 
preparation for round, regular and uniformly 
strong thread. This can be accomplished by 
having machines with fewer beaters and more 
lattice tables for doubling, a thing which ma- 
chines with numerous beaters do not accomplish. 

Doubling on the Lapper. — The most prac- 
tical method of assimulating the fibres is found 
to be by doubling on the lappers. The advan- 
tages to be gained from this are much more 
appreciated in practice in England than with us, 
and this is one of the reasons why very poor cot- 
ton is used for coarse counts there. Good work 
one day and bad the next, from the same mixing, 
warns us that we are not putting sufficient doub- 
lings on the lapper to prevent the stock from 
being alternately weak and strong. The carding- 
engines may be in the best order and yet if the 
material is not sufficiently doubled in the picker- 
room some bad spinning cannot be avoided. 

There are other occurrences with this machine 
which if permitted, will cause variations in the 
work. The grids and screes over which the 
cotton passes should at all times be free from any 
accumulation of sand or bunches of fibre. These 
impede the flight of the cotton over the grids, 

9 



and alter the direction so as to make heavy-sided 
laps, and to cause poor carding where the bulk 
is fed in. The screw cylinders must be kept 
clear of bunches, to allow the draught of the fans 
to act uniformly and to remove the short and 
dead fibre. The beaters should be gauged so 
that the seeds which fall under will equal in 
quantity the full width of the feed. If not, these 
seeds are passing through and will be seen stick- 
ing in the doffers of the cards. Dirty grids, foul 
screes, and choked fan-ways, will prevent the 
short from being taken out at the proper place, 
and the result will be dirty carding. 



CHAPTER II. 



CARDING COTTON. 



General Reflections on the Subject — Single Carding 
—Necessary Conditions for Doing it Well— Double 
Carding and its Advantages— Card Clothing and 
its Proper Application. 

The end to be aimed at.— The importance 
attached to the manner in which the cotton is 
treated on the cards, is shown by the efforts con- 
stantly made to produce engines of greater capac- 
ity and perfection of work. Practical spinners 
agree that a good, round, clean thread cannot be 
manufactured unless the carding is uniform in 
staple and excellent in quality. To attain this 
end is the aim of every intelligent and enterpris- 
ing 1 carder. Valuable assistance has been ren- 

o 

dered by developments in the other machinery, 
but still it remains for the well-ground and well- 
set card to clear the material, separate the fibres 
and make the process of good spinning easy. 

The carder of to-day has many advantages 
over his predecessors and is therefore expected 
to produce better results. His cards, his clothing, 
and his apparatus for grinding, are all so much 



superior in every respect to those of twenty years 
ago that, with ordinary precaution and intelli- 
gence, he cannot fail to obtain a better result 
from a similar grade of cotton. Still, good en- 
gines may be set up and well started, but through 
bad management thev may> in a short time, be 
doing irregular and unsatisfactory work. On 
the other hand the false economy of working the 
clothing too long may be the source of much 
mischief in that direction. Hence, if we desire 
to know when a thing is wrong, the cause of it 
going wrong, and the best and most expeditious 
means to put it right, we must have expert men 
in charge of the carding. 

Points in Good Carding. — To deliver a 
sliver thoroughly clean and perfectly straight- 
ened, the wire points on the cylinder, the top 
flats and the doffer should be quite adequate to 
comb and separate every fibre. The cotton 
ought to be handled with skill and intelligence, 
and given to the engines in such a manner as 
certainly to insure the above results. This de- 
gree of perfection can be attained only by light 
carding. On single carding from 45 to 55 grains 
to the yard of sliver has been decided by expe- 
rience to be a good standard for common top — 
flat heads. Machines of greater capacity ought 
to be taxed only in proportion. Good single 
carding requires to have well-selected stock, 



clean, ripe and of a uniform length. By carding 
single with a draft of from 50 or 55 to one, with 
the above-mentioned stock, excellent results will 
be attained for counts from 36s down. 

Over-Carding and Over-Drafting. — It 

must be remembered that single carding may be 
over-done ; that is to say, the fibres may be 
carded too much while in one position. Most 
of the straightening and combing properties of a 
carding engine are between the feed rolls and 
the cylinder, and on single carding it is evident 
the staple is combed but one way; that is, over 
one end, while the other is being held by the 
feed rolls. If this end is held too long, the re- 
sult is over- carding at one end, enfeebling this 
part of the fibre, and leaving it unfit to be drawn 
out properly, or in a condition to unite closely. 

This is the outcome of over-drafting, because 
the greater the draft the slower revolve the feed 
rolls, and therefore the more carding the ends of 
the fibre next to the cylinder receive. Hence 
the fibres are left to pass on, with (so to speak) 
thick, stubby ends, and the other processes are 
unable to unite them in anything like the glossy 
condition which it is their natural tendency to 
assume. Increasing the velocity of the cylinder 
has the same effect, and adds to the waste 
through centrifugal force. Lickers-in remedy 
this to some extent by partially combing one end 

'3 



of the fibre and delivering the other end to the 
cylinder. Lickers-in are effective in this manner 
on single engines of large capacity, where soft, 
short and clean cotton is used, and great product 
is expected. Still, the process of straightening 
and separating the fibre is not so complete as 
when carded double without lickers-in. Hence 
the necessity for well-selected stock for single 
carding. 

The Top-flat Card. — Attention is strongly 
directed just now to the top-flat card which is 
coming into general use. When operated dou- 
ble it makes the best kind of work. It combs, 
straightens, and softens the fibres, and removes 
the impurities more perfectly than any other. 
These qualities are very desirable for fine 
" counts." On medium as well as fine yarns, 
this card is also much liked, and even where 
coarse numbers are required to be soft and even, 
it is likely to be in the first rank. Extensive 
improvements in almost every part of this engine 
have been made from time to time. Still if we 
except the stripping attachment, it does not differ 
greatly from the engines of Greaves, Peel, Burly, 
Marsden and Murray of two centuries ago. 
From a foot and a half it has been gradually in- 
creased to double that width, which is the recog- 
nized standard. 

Double-Carding. — Very good single card- 

14 



ing, certainly, we have seen made for counts as 
high as 40s, while on the other hand, we have 
seen double-carded stock for the same numbers, 
which was no more than fair. The reason for 
this may not always be found in the machine, or 
in its method of construction. It is in the pick- 
ing machinery, or in the selecting of the cotton, 
that the trouble is most likely to be found. The 
drafts, speeds and quantity produced may ac- 
count in some degree for the inferiority of the 
work, and although these are in the line of the 
skilled overseer, cannot, under the circumstances, 
be touched. Indeed, it often happens, that the 
quantity demanded per inch of carding surface 
hinders to a great extent, the overseer in the ap- 
plication of his skill ; the qualities commonly de- 
sired in such a man being those of the pushing 
kind. The small black nit, the broken, prongy 
seed and leaf, which cannot be removed by the 
lapper beaters and which are to be met with at 
all points and are so obnoxious when exposed 
in the cloth and yarn, cannot be taken out un- 
less the fibre is double carded or combed ; that 
is, reversed and operated on in both directions. 
When carding double the drafts are always light, 
and so arranged that no damage can be done to 
the staple, either in the first or second process. 
The doublings gained, but which are entirely 
lost in single carding, are invaluable in moving 



and assimilating the fibre. The large extra dou- 
bling of fibres, with the two combing processes 
bringing to stock such a fine state of separation, 
cannot possibly be equaled by single carding, 
however slow or lightly delivered. 

The effect of carding double is to make the 
yarn and goods smooth and glossy, to give them 
just such qualities as are desirable and profitable. 
By changing the position of fibres they are really 
strengthened, because the dirt is more thor- 
oughly taken out, and the straightening action 
is made more complete. The double combing 
by the card wire gives gloss to the yarn and the 
freedom from dirt gives strength ; for in such 
condition the fibres lie more closely and -evenly 
together. 

Clothing the Cards. — We will next consider 
the clothing of the cylinders, a kind of work which 
is not done on the card every year and therefore 
ought to be executed with neatness, and at the same 
time, with a view to permanency. A job of this 
sort is not executed for show, but a neat and a 
strong job is easy in the hands of a good work- 
man. 

In the first place, strike a line around the 
cylinder for each end of the sheets. Be sure 
that every sheet touches this line, and nothing 
over. These lines can be best drawn by turning 
the cylinder against a pencil held steadily on the 
16 



string-piece. Parallel lines, by which to square the 
sheets, are made perfectly exact, by having the 
the straight-edge fixed firmly on the segments 
in which the top-flat-pins are screwed, and by 
moving the cylinder the required distance for 
each line. From centre to centre of the plugs 
(or the distance the tacks must be apart) should 
He marked on a nice piece of wood no longer 
than the cylinder. Stick tacks according to these 
marks, and good, regular, workmanlike tacking- 
on will be made sure. Be careful to lay the sheet 
square on the line marked out for it, and at the 
extreme ends drive a tack part way, then one in 
the middle, and another in the quarter distance. 
When the sheet is in this position take another 
look to make sure that it stands square on the 
lines. If so, stick and drive the tacks carefully 
until the one side of the sheet is nailed on. 

Stretching and Backing..— We now come 
to the most important part of the work, the 
stretching and backing. It may be stated here 
that a machine for clothing cards should be 
strong and rigid, the teeth in the ratchet small in 
pitch, well tempered and sharp, so that there will 
be no " give " or let back to the stretch. The 
same precaution is necessary with the dog by 
which the cylinder is bound. Heavy paper cut 
the exact size of the sheet, and pasted so that it 
cannot move with the pull, is generally used for 



backing. Now draw the end of the sheet square 
with the margin line, and tack to the same line 
at the other end. Each time the pliers are shifted 
great care must be taken that the ratchet is 
moved the same distance, else the sheet will be 
pulled laterally, which will cause trouble at the 
finish by trimming the part drawn over the line. 
The judgment of the practical operator is the 
best rule that can be given for stretching the 
sheets. Leather is not always alike, some parts 
on the same sheet will stretch more than others. 

In clothing the doffer, the margin at each end 
must not project beyond that of the cylinder. A 
good way is to divide the circumference of the 
doffer in as many equal spaces as there are rows 
of teeth in the fillet. Split these rows and tack 
tightly and carefully. During the winding-on be 
sure, whether it is done with a machine or by 
hand, to have the same tension all the time. 

The Usage of Card Clothing.— An intelli- 
gent conception of what is required of the card 
clothing tends to preserve it and to keep the card- 
ing good and uniform. Vulcanized rubber-faced 
clothing is one of the best substitutes for all 
purposes for which leather is used, and is 
rapidly superceding it. When leather hardens 
on account of exposure to water and oil, as in 
wool carding, this clothing runs without injury. 
It has also a valuable feature in the firm and 
j8 






elastic support it furnishes to the teeth. In 
clothing with this foundation the holes contract 
about the wire more closely than on leather, thus 
securing an important factor towards durability. 
Before putting on, it should be conditioned 
somewhat like the natural rubber-faced clothing, 
by keeping it for several days and nights in a 
temperature a few degrees higher than where it 
is to run. If this is attended to the cloth will, 
on account of the decrease of temperature, 
slightly tighten up after it is nailed on. Cylin- 
ders on which natural rubber-clothing is used 
should be free from paint, or any under-pinning 
in which there is oil. Cotton cloth put on with 
some harmless paste, such as is made from flour, 
and given time to dry, has been known to give 
good satisfaction. Day and night the temper- 
ature in the room where rubber clothing is used 
must be kept the same. When exposed to a low 
temperature the teeth become so hard that the 
carding is spoiled, while loose clothing and fillets 
are found to be caused by a rise in the temper- 
ature. 



19 



CHAPTER III. 

GRINDING THE CARDS. 

Preparing a Card for the grinder — The Best Kinds of 
Grinders — Covering Grinders — Important Hints and 
Suggestions — Putting the Grinder on the Card — 
Considerations to be Carefully Observed — Points 
About Good Grinding — The Care of top-flats— 
Card Setting. 

The man who does the grinding. — The 

trustworthiness of the man who is to do the 
grinding of a card may be estimated from the 
way in which, after stripping the cylinder, he 
looks over and studies the card. His purpose 
should be to find out how the wire, cloth and 
fillets have stood the strain and the wear and tear 
during the interval which has elapsed since the 
last grinding and setting were done. Much in- 
formation may be gained here, which is difficult 
and troublesome to get at on any other occasion. 
The engine with mountings and covers removed, 
stripped clean and brushed free from fibre, after 
having run its full quota of time, which may be 
three, four, or even five weeks, offers a good 
opportunity to a practical man to ascertain what 
the card is doing and what it is likely to continue 

20 



to do. It also gives him a chance to determine 
whether anything is necessary to be done to it 
before grinding again. A few minutes spent on 
each card at this time will be found profitable, 
and if the ascertained information be put into 
practice, will tend to maintain its condition. 

If the cylinder and doffer are both rubbed at 
the same place it shows that the doffer has been 
running too close. A rubbed cylinder and a 
sharp doffer, point to the licker-in or feed rolls ; 
the one or the other as the case may be. A 
licker-in rubbed blunt, indicates the feed rolls ; 
and if glazed but sharp, the cylinder. Loose 
top-flat sheets will rub only the cylinder and are 
always discovered when running the "flats." A tack 
out of the top-flat, will rub a narrow ring around 
the cylinder, while the same thing will happen 
to the "doffer " when there is a tack out on the 
cylinder cloth. Loose clothing will rub doffer 
and flats alike. All of these must be looked to, 
and remedied before the card is started up again. 

If the licker-in is doing its duty, it ought to be 
free from strip, and the hard tempered wire teeth 
in good condition. If not, it is ready for the 
grinder, because it is either rubbed or hooked, 
and in no condition suitable for egesting filth. 
This is of considerable importance when carding 
with lickers-in ; so much so, that it is often found 
to be necessary when at work, to lift the cover 



2 J 



and see if the topside is clean. If it is not, 
it is dropping good fibre, and producing nitty 
carding. 

The fillets. — Much harm may follow from 
not giving special attention to the fillets at this 
time. These always tighten, with the heft of 
grinding, at the end where the winding- on be- 
gins, and frequently tear or break. All fillets 
ought to be looked over and made secure before 
grinding. They should be drawn up neatly, and 
all the ragged teeth removed from the edges. 
Before the card is ready for the grinder, the wire 
must be drawn up with the card knife in good 
shape and all the jammed wire picked up, and 
tubed into line. Each sheet of clothing must be 
gone over in this way, and care taken to find out 
if any slack or blistered parts have escaped no- 
tice. If the picking up of the fallen teeth is 
neglected, for any length of time, the standing 
wires will get ground so much shorter that when 
they are picked up, they will found to be what is 
called " long teeth." 

The Best Grinders. — The most popular way 

of grinding is with a wheel about five or six 
inches in diameter, having a five-inch face. This 
grinder, when in what is termed good running 
order, does capital work, but the time it takes to 
do it in, is somewhat to its disadvantage. For 
instance, in grinding a thirty-six inch cylinder 

22 



with this wheel, one-seventh of the surface is all 
that is touched at any time during the traverse. 
Hence, although the card is well ground, the 
time consumed by the work is something that 
carders fret over. Still, if it can be afforded at all, 
the superior sharpening accomplished by this 
make of emery grinders fully warrants, and in 
most cases repays, the loss of time. 

The other kind of grinder most generally in 
use is what is designated the roller grinder. It 
is five inches in diameter and one inch anda-half 
longer than the width of the cylinder. This 
over-reach is allowed for the traverse. On ac- 
count of the work done by this grinder being 
continuous, and therefore at least six times 
faster than the narrow wheel, it is often preferred. 
In competent hands, excellent sharpening can be 
executed with either sort ; still the narrow wheel 
is the favorite where the ruling desire is not to 
save time. 

Leather and wooden strickels, and other 
appliances of the kind, are often used in emer- 
gencies, but are never to be recommended, be- 
cause they strain the wire and grind the card off 
the true, the result of which is nitty carding at 
certain points where otherwise the work is good. 

Covering Grinders. — Our first duty is to 
make sure that the tools with which the grind- 
ing, setting, or clothing is done are in such order 



as will insure "well set-up" teeth and true cyl- 
inders. The grinders should be properly cov- 
ered, true-running and in good condition other- 
wise. A faithful index of the manner in which 
the cards are kept, is to be found in the thor- 
oughness exhibited in caring for the tools. To 
cover or relay a grinder so as to insure first-class 
results, requires that careful attention should be 
given to the emery, the lapping of the wheel and 
the handling of the glue. The emery being 
mostly dusty, ought to be washed in clean hot 
water. In such case the old emery washed off 
the wheels previously may be added, as the boil- 
ing water will dissolve whatever glue or oily 
matter may be still in it. The water ought to 
be changed until it remains clear. Put the 
emery away to dry in a clean, warm place. 

Wind spinner's banding tightly and evenly 
around the wheel. Be sure that both ends are 
well secured. Soak over night the glue in vine- 
gar instead of water. Prepare it very warm, and 
with a good body put it on very evenly over the 
wheel with a brush. Keep the wheel turning 
all the time, and when all is ready hold the hot 
emery high over the wheel and drop it on so 
evenly and carefully that every part will be cov- 
ered as it passes. Keep turning slowly until the 
glue sets. In order to keep out moisture, or oil, 
the grinders ought to be kept in a clean, warm, 

24 



covered in place. They should also be sponged 
every week with turpentine, so that the full cut- 
ting qualities of the emery may be secured. 

Putting the Grinder on the Card.— There 
are a few points essential to safe and successful 
grinding, which it will be in order to call atten- 
tion to here. It is well known that there are 
whole cylinders of clothing rendered worthless 
on account of accidents which happen when the 
cards are being ground. To prevent these, more 
than ordinary caution must be taken. In the first 
place, let the doffer be drawn back from the 
cylinder about one quarter of an inch. This is 
for the purpose of allowing space sufficient to set 
the doffer to the grinder and to be safe from 
rubbing the cylinder, a circumstance which must 
be prevented. That is to say, by drawing the 
doffer back, we afford room for the wheel to be 
set lower down, so that the peripheries of both 
cylinders will come in contact with it, and the 
cylinders will run clear of each other. 

It is very important now to see to the "tighten- 
ing-up" bolts and ''adjusting screws" of the 
" doffer," for a good many accidents are the con- 
sequence of these being neglected. If the adjust- 
ing screws are forced to put the doffer back, 
without the tightening-up bolts being loosened, 
as they sometimes are, something is likely to be 
strained or broken, which takes such a long time 

25 



to repair that the operator will use his ingenuity 
to make it " go " until a more convenient oppor- 
tunity. These screws and bolts being intended 
to hold the doffer in position, are needed most 
when the said doffer is revolving at 500 or 600 
revolutions, and ought, therefore, to be 
carefully seen to, as should also be the bolts 
with which the " grinder stands " are bound to the 
card frame. If these do not fit exactly, the high 
speed at which the wheel is driven will surely 
shake them loose, and the result will be similar 
to that of a badly fastened " doffer." 

The belts by which the grinder is driven must 
be very neatly lapped so that no tug or jerk 
may be felt while running. It is of great utility 
that these belts be of sufficient tension to main- 
tain a regular speed, but not so tight as to shake 
the stands and cause the wheel to bump against 
the cylinder. Every card-grinder is well ac- 
quainted with the effects which follow the 
" grinder " getting out of place, and has spent 
many weary hours in the endeavor to " set back " 
the teeth so as to make decent work, but without 
avail. The result in every case is shovel-edged 
wire such as is seen in the cuts on the succeeding 
pages, of teeth spoiled by the grinder, and which 
invariably produces nitty carding. 

Good Grinding. — The sharpening power of 
an emery grinder is its peripheric velocity added 

26 



to that of the cylinder with which it comes in 
contact. And the traverse is the difference be- 
tween the revolutions of the shell and the screw. 
These data are taken from a full length grinder; 
but the power of a wheel, according to the same 
rule, would be as much less as its width would 
divide into the width of the cylinder. This theory 
is certaintly not correct ; if so, a five-inch face 
emery wheel would take seven hours to grind a 
36 inch card, which the roller grinder would do 
in one hour. Long experience has proved that 
a good wheel will do at least half as much work 
as a good roller grinder. It will make sharper 
and more perfect points on the wire, and save 
time, by making it necessary to brush less to get 
rid of the hook. (See cut on succeeding pages: 
well-ground teeth unbrushed). 

But it matters not (as both patterns of grinders 
will do good work) which we are operating on. 
The science of the one is the science of the other. 
Let the wheel be level, brought to the distance 
of a thick gauge at both ends of the cylinder, 
and the set-screws on the back of the slides made 
pretty tight. Follow up with the doffer to the 
same gauge, run the wheel across a time or two, 
to make sure that all is clear. Put on the belts, 
and start the engine up slowly. 

A small quantity of oil will be necessary, but 
not enough to spatter on the clothing. Set 
27 



lightly to the cylinder first, and bring the doffer 
to bear afterwards. After running a couple of 
hours, stop the card and ascertain how the 
grinder is acting on the parts which have been 
blunted through rubbing. If the glaze on the 
wire is not being sharpened, the wheel may be 
set a little closer. But it will not do to be setting 
up the wheel to the wire often, for the best card- 
ing edge, and the most free from hook, is that 
on which the grinder cuts itself almost clear. 

There may be some parts of the blistered 
clothing recently drawn up which have been 
made hollow by rubbing against the feed-rolls, 
top-flats, and doffer ; or, if we are operating on a 
roller card, against the licker-in, rollers, and 
clearers ; but it is not necessary to keep the 
grinder running until these are ground out. This 
would incur too much wear of clothing for such 
small results, unless it should happen that the 
sheets are all redrawn. Then it is incumbent 
that they be as well ground as when the card is 
newly clothed. 

The traverse or lateral movement of the wheel 
prevents a flat edge, so that when a cylinder is 
well sharpened it will feel perfectly smooth both 
ways. 

A brush with good long bristles is a part of 
the card grinder's " kit," and, after the grinder 
is taken off, should be used lightly on the cylin- 
28 



ders for as much as ten minutes. This is very 
effective in removing the hook from the wire, 
and when the card is started the fibre will comb 
much freer from the doffer. 

The licker-in, generally clothed with hardened 
steel wire, is a very particular cylinder to grind 
in such a way that there will be no hooked or 
raeeed edee; for if there is, it will not remain in 
good form for any length of time, but will get 
choked up so as to be very damaging to the 
carding. It should be allowed to remain grind- 
ing until it is perfectly smooth, both roundwise 
and crosswise, after which it should be thoroughly 
brushed, either by circular or hand brush, set 
and tried, and if it will not clean it should be 
brushed again until the cotton is delivered to the 
cylinder free from sticking. (See cuts at 
end of this chapter of well-ground and brushed 
teeth). 

The care of top-flats.— The teeth of the 
top-flats ought to be " run" with the card-knife 
tubed straight into line, and ground and brushed 
to a perfect edge, by the time the cylinder and 
doffer are ready. From the hard usage the top- 
flats receive from the automatic strippers, the 
teeth are often found to be laid in a very irregu- 
lar manner. Being in this state interferes greatly 
with their usefulness in straightening the passing 
fibres, and shows the value of having them at- 
29 



tended to and put in position every time the 
card is ground. If a flat sheet be met with, the 
teeth of which are maintaining- their regular 
form, and standing up well to the work for which 
they are designed, it is not absolutely necessary 
that the knife be run through them. The por- 
tions of the wire laid down and tangled are quite 
sufficient to be manipulated with the tool, because 
this continuous running is found in time so to 
loosen the teeth in the foundations, that when at 
work they do not stand against the "pull " in their 
orginal or best carding form, but give back so as 
to be almost straight. This, instead of' drawing, 
the fibres parallel with each other as much as 
possible, allows them to pass on in a far from sat- 
isfactory state. A flat is sometimes discovered so 
hollow in the centre, that it cannot be ground 
true, except by reducing the teeth at the ends. 
The cause of this is generally the warping of the 
wood and the remedy is to take the sheet off and 
have it " trued up." 

The top-flat clothing table.— The top -flat 
clothing table is of special service to the man 
who knows how, yet it is seldom kept in such a 
state that a flat can be put on and reclothed, or 
drawn up, without some trouble in putting it in 
serviceable order. This is, perhaps, the worst 
neglected piece of mechanism in the card-room. 
It consists of a strong frame set up in a conven- 

30 



ient place for light, with bar, ratchet and pliers 
attached. The flat-seat is made full length and 
nearly the depth of the flat, with the front or 
breast-piece well rounded off for the pliers, and 
with clasps to fit over the ends of the flat to hold 
it in position. This tool is generally home-made, 
and many original ideas are developed in the 
construction of it, which no doubt could be im- 
proved if builders of card-room machinery were 
to take hold of it. But the principle point is to 
keep it always ready, to save time ; and then 
small jobs will be done at once, which, on ac- 
count of the condition in which it is kept, are 
often neglected until they become extremely 
hurtful to the work. 

Card Setting. — The style of the engine de- 
termines the manner in which it is to be set. 
The eye, the ear and the guage are often all 
brought into requisition before the various card- 
ing points are properly adjusted. Correct setting 
becomes each year of more consequence, on 
account of the increasing demand for perfect 
yarn. Especially is this so when the carding is 
for fine numbers. There are so many machines 
in the market for carding cotton all of which 
have their good setting points, that it is no easy 
matter to determine which is the most proficient. 
The many antiquated ideas which are being bur- 
nished anew and put into more effective settings 

31 



by the aid of improved construction, make one 
conclude that the advancement in carding cotton 
is not due so much to recent scientific research 
as to the perfection of the mechanical means for 
making all appliances more effectual. 

There are but few serviceable devices on the 
cotton card of to-day that were not in operation 
forty years ago. What is the railway-head but 
an extension of the old-fashioned " doubler," 
where from two to four slivers were condensed 
into one ? A combination of rollers and top- 
flats has been in operation, and, for numbers up 
to 36s, has proved a more than ordinarily good 
card. Extractors of every conceivable shape 
have been applied to cylinders, and operated 
with more or less advantage for as great a length 
of time. Revolving flats, cards doffed with 
rollers instead of combs, cards feeding back and 
front at the same time, two slivers delivered from 
separate doffers, from the same cylinder, shell 
feeds, centre-pressed feeds, feed-rollers covered 
with card-clothing, self-strippers, brush-strippers, 
fancy rollers, draw-boxes, coilers, knife-edge 
plates set with screws, steel knives inserted be- 
tween rollers underneath the cylinders of front 
feed cards, cylinder screens, solid, perforated and 
slatted in every possible form and width of space 
— all these for the purpose of preserving the 
staple, multiplying the setting points, and ren- 

32 



dering the card more effective as a single ma- 
chine. 

It will be seen from these numerous devices 
that the " setting " is one of the most particular 
operations belonging to the business of the card 
grinder. He must study what is of practical 
and positive efficiency in attachments, and the 
particular purposes for which they are intended, 
so as to produce the best effects in actual opera- 
tion. The common top-flats, on account of the 
manner in which they are gradually widened 
from doffer to feed, set bevelling, so that the 
front of the flat be twice as far from the cylinder as 
the back, are all that is ever allowed to be measured 
by sight, and that only for the purpose of deter- 
mining the bevel ; for the back must be gauged 
in the same way as the feed-rolls, or doffer. 

Where the space to be measured is from the 
ninetieth to one hundredth part of an inch, the 
unaided sight alone is not a sufficient guide. By 
the use of a steel gauge the utmost exactness can 
be attained, as well as the greatest possible safety 
to the clothing, and the certainty of regular and 
protracted production. The gauge then must be 
used everywhere in " setting " the parts together in 
working position, in bringing the different points 
to the closest possible clearance, and to ascertain 
definitely whether the cylinders and flats have 
been ground true or not. A well-made card, suit- 

33 



able for fine cottons, can be set to No. 33 gauge, 
and when so set will produce splendid work. 

The card grinder must always bear in mind 
that the feed rolls, to make uniform work ought 
to be set so that the cylinder or licker-in will 
" nip the staple clean, without any lapping or ap- 
pearance of fibres dragging, or turning over the 
rolls." In adjusting the "flats" he must under- 
stand that the fibre is, by the action of the cylin- 
der teeth, made to slide from one to the other, 
and that the movement of the cotton is checked 
by the teeth of the flat, until it is laid, fibre by 
fibre, as it passes onward. Hence the necessity for 
having top-flats set bevelling, gradually widening 
in front towards the feed-rolls. This space well 
proportioned materially increases the efficiency of 
the card. Rollers and cleanersshould be set 

as close as possible 
without being allow- 
ed to rub. These 
doff and feed on to 
the cylinder alter- 
nately. 





A i represents wire from the top-fiat, well-ground and 
brushed ; and Aa i represents the same wire much more 

largely magnified. 

A 2 represents the top- 
flat wire well-ground,but 
not brushed ; and Aa 2, 
shows the same wire 
more largely magnified. 





A3 

In A 3 we have top-flat wire 
so treated as to have been 
spoiled, and the particular 
effects of bad grinding are 
more distinctly shown in the 
enlargement of the same 
points in Aa 3. 




"BU 





A a. S 




3 6 



2 * 



35 



In]B 4 we have cylinder wire ground and not brushed, 
while Bb 4 is an enlargement of the point of the same 
wire. 

In B 6 we have cylin- 
der wire well-ground 
and brushed, and in Bb 
6 the enlarged point of 
the same wire. 





In B 8 we have cylinder wire badly spoiled in the grind- 
^v ing, and the effects of the 

\\ maltreatment are more 

\ \\ plainly shown in Bb 8 an 
\\ \\ enlargement of the points 
\\ \\ of the said wire. 




c r 






C 5 shows wire from the doffer well ground and brushed; 
while Cc 5 is the point of the doffer wire greatly magnified. 

C 7 represents the doffer wire ground but not brushed, 
and Cc 7 is an enlargement of the point. 





f ' 



c 



1 



C 



<<? 



C 9 is an illustration of the effects of bad grinding upon 
the wire from the doffer, and Cc 9 shows the results upon 
the points much more largely magnified. 



37 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE SLIVER. 

Importance of Even Delivery Draw-boxes— Obtaining 
Uniform weight — Suggestions to that End — Re- 
marks UPON THE COILER — A CONSIDERATION OF THE 

Railway head — Its good qualities and its objection- 
able FEATURES. 

Importance of even delivery draw-boxes, 

— Having considered the conditions of the card 
wire, the grinding and the setting, it will now be in 
order to trace the delivery of the sliver after 
being combed from the doffer and compressed 
through a trumpet. The question to consider is 
I. Do the cards work singly or in sections? 2. If 
operated singly, are they using the draw-box with 
fluted under, and leather top rolls geared for a 
draft, of from one and a half to three ? The en- 
gines fitted with draw-boxes are mostly of the 
roller and clearer type, and are chiefly operated 
on the coarser grades of product where large 
production only is profitable. 

Although these draw-boxes are often neces- 
sary for the purpose of reducing the sliver before 
being doubled four into one at the drawing, yet 

38 



they cannot be trusted to make even work for 
any length of time. Placed in a position where 
the rollers must be driven at a great speed, the 
least bit of cotton getting under the saddle-bear- 
ings will cause them to cut the sliver, thus making 
many piecings and much waste at the drawing. 
Of all the places in the card-room for drawing 
cotton, the draw-box attached to the front of the 
card is the worst, because it cannot get proper at- 
tendance, and the consequence always is a great 
amount of waste. What is wanted from a card 
that works single is a strong, even sliver that 
will pull out of the can from the bottom without 
either breaking or straining, so as to cause no 
piecings or fine places, which cannot be taken 
out after and must surely appear in the yarn. It 
has been found to be an advantage in the matter 
of getting better and cheaper work, to take these 
" draw-boxes" off, and alter the speed so as to 
run the sliver direct from the trumpet and con- 
densing rolls into a revolving can. 

The Necessity for Uniform Weight. — 

All the cards that work for one drawing frame 
ought to have a sliver of uniform weight. One 
yard of sliver from each card should be measured 
off and weighed, and the others should not vary 
from these more than two or three grains. This 
may be done at every change of laps, and if it is 
found that the same cards are heavy all the time 

39 



it may be concluded that the drafts are not all 
alike. This must be seen to at once, and all the 
draft-gears counted and made precisely of the 
same number. But the cards may not all be of 
the same make, and then may require different 
pinions to produce the same draft, owing to other 
parts not being similar. Still, to produce uniform 
weight the drafts must be made the same. 

In weighing these slivers, if it should be found 
that they come sometimes heavy and sometimes 
light from the same card, then the fault lies in 
the laps, which are not as regular as they ought 
to be. A platform scale in the lapper room is 
the remedy for this. On it every lap as it comes 
from the machine ought to be weighed until it 
balances at the proper point, or at least does not 
vary over half a pound. By attending to this a 
few times a day the operator can prove whether 
the evener is running as it should or not, and if 
so, there will be no trouble in keeping the weight 
right. The carder may occasionally test the 
laps himself. If this matter be well attended to, 
there will be but little trouble in keeping the 
numbers even afterwards. 

The Coiler. — The weight of the sliver, and 
the best method of condensing it for drawing, are 
next to be considered. In a carding room a suf- 
ficient number of engines should be allowed to 
keep up the supply of carding without being from 
40 



time to time compelled to meet the demand by 
adding weight. The weight of the yard of sliver, 
from the same cards and for similar counts, takes 
a wide range in the various mills. Some mills card 
75 grains to the yard, while others run as low as 
50 grains. Some use coilers and others railway 
heads. Now on a card, that is to say a common 
top-flat, which produces 75 grains of sliver per 
yard, and condenses it in a coiler, there must 
be but indifferent work. It is altogether too 
heavy and the coiler makes it still worse. Not only 
is the machine pressed too hard, but a twist is 
also put in the sliver, which makes it hard for 
the drawing rollers to draw, with the result that 
the drawing sliver will be hacked and the yarn 
will be very uneven. 

These are the first and main points to look at 
for the making of smooth, even yarn. Coilers 
must necessarily have their condensing rollers so 
tightly sprung together that they will drive the 
sliver through the coiling gear. This, and the 
twist they give the strand, make a heavy bulk of 
cotton, too hard to draw. Still, coilers are exten- 
sively used on coarse numbers, where imperfec- 
tions are not so visible. But for fine yarns, where 
the thread must be strong and level, consider- 
ing that the fibre has to be drawn to its utmost, 
the coiler is a machine which ought not to be 
employed. 

41 



The coiler, however, has its good points. The 
can being the best-filled and containing the 
greatest quantity, is by far the most reliable and 
runs the longest, and, as a result there are less 
piecings and stoppages. Another point in favor 
of the coiler is that on coarse " counts " it gener- 
ally receives but the production of one card, 
and, therefore, cannot contain singles or make 
large quantities of waste, like doubles or railway 
heads. There can be no doubt that if there were 
any device by which the twists could be taken 
out of the coiled ends before they enter the draw- 
ing, the effectiveness of the coiler would be in- 
creased, and as a means of filling cans it would 
be still more largely employed. 

The Railway Head. — The railway head is 
another, and some think, a more efficient device 
for concentrating the carding at a given point. 
It is a most important machine, and on it depends 
greatly the quality of the goods produced, as well 
as the regularity of the spinning. It should there- 
fore receive close attention. The weights should 
hang straight, the levers should stand parallel 
with the beam, and the conducting pins at the 
back should be as close as possible to the rollers. 
The slivers ought not to be contracted any more 
than just enough to prevent feather-edges on the 
front roller. The up-take must be computed to 
such a nicety as to prevent the slightest drag be- 
42 






tween the card front and the railway back. There 
should be no back-play in the shipper-screw to 
prevent the " evener " from acting quickly. The 
cone-belt ought to be level and of the best 
material. The rollers, on account of the heavi- 
ness of the weights, require strict attention, and 
want to be varnished often. If there should be 
the slightest curl-up of the sliver these rollers 
must be set a little wider. Should thick and 
thin places appear they must be moved a little 
closer. These and the driving-belt of the back 
portion of the head, the pitch of the gears, and 
the manner in which the slivers from the doffers 
enter on the belt, all have an important part in 
making the railway head keep up to the standard 
of, work. If we are sure these various things are 
in good order, and kept so, we may rest satisfied 
that the complaints regarding the running of the 
work in other departments will be few. These 
are the things which we can help, and if we are 
not watchful of them we are neglecting our duty. 
But there are other things connected with the 
railway head which we cannot help, and which 
to some make it objectionable. In the first place, 
the evener is on the wrong side of the machine, 
so that a number of inches of sliver must pass 
before the evening is effected. This cannot be 
prevented any further than that the nearer we 
keep the machine and all its parts to perfection, 

43 



the shorter will be the length that passes. Again, 
if the piece upon which the evener is called to 
act be short, it will pass without regulation, while 
a certain length of that following, which is in all 
probability the right weight, will receive the 
action of the evener, and be, therefore, made 
heavier or lighter, as the case may be, thus 
doubling the evil, and causing twice the length 
of sliver to pass in irregular shape. 

A bunch sometimes will pull the trumpet down 
and throw the belt an inch or so along the cones, 
which will be making light work until it returns 
to the proper place. A thin part will do the 
same in the opposite direction, so the " railway- 
head " is not quite as it should be yet. All this 
unevenness would be averted if some genius 
should place the " evener " behind the head ; and 
recent information says' that this is being accom- 
plished. Our railway arrangement is a good and 
cheap one for almost all numbers spun without 
combing, and barring these defects, is a perfect 
machine. 



44 



CHAPTER V. 

VARIOUS KINDS OF CARDS. 

THE DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF CARDING ENGINES — BACK- 
FEED AND FRONT FEED — THE WELLMAN STRIPPER CARD — 
THE REVOLVING FLAT — THE ROLLER CARD. 

Back-feed Cards. — It is not the purpose of 
the writer to express a preference for cards of 
any particular model or to claim that his experi- 
ence in carding is worth more than that of others. 
He merely wishes to indicate his own practice 
during a series of years in this especial field of 
cotton manufacture. Having had charge of, and 
operated, cards with back-feed and cards with 
front-feed, cards which were hand-stripped and 
cards which were self-stripped, cards with rollers 
and clearers and cards with revolving flats, he 
thinks he is qualified to form a just opinion and 
to offer substantial reasons why certain kinds of 
engines are best adapted to, and more profitable 
to operate upon, certain grades of stock. Twenty- 
five years ago he was carding all kinds of cotton, 
and for all counts up to 200s. and even higher, 
on cards the cylinders of which were thirty 
inches in diameter and the doffers thirteen 

45 



inches. These were back-feed cards and they 
made a good record for quality, but were defi- 
cient in quantity of product. Numbers of these 
machines are still running, however, on combed 
yarns and giving good satisfaction. 

Front- feed Cards. — Then were introduced the 
front-feed cards, which at first and until, com- 
paratively speaking, a recent period, were a de- 
cided failure, especially on the finer grades. 
This no doubt was mainly attributable to the 
manner in which the cylinders were inclosed 
beneath, as no knife plate, or contrivance of any 
kind, could be brought with like effect so near 
the periphery as the flats. Besides this the ele- 
vation of the doffer excluded all chance of hav- 
ing more carding area, or introducing more flats. 
Hence, while the cotton passed from the feed- 
rolls to the first top-flat, the centrifugal force 
loosened the cotton on the cylinder to such an 
extent that there was always more than the 
short and seed thrown on the flats. This, to- 
gether with the production of an extra quantity 
of flies, of a very superior kind, which necessarily 
must fall from a card of this description, was a 
great hindrance at first to the popularity of the 
front-feed engines. But this difficulty has been 
removed in such a thorough manner that on the 
modern front-feed card the flats are brought 
near to the rolls, with the effect to obviate those 
46 



faults entirely. This improvement has made 
cards which feed at the front, or under the doffer, 
very acceptable for all kinds of numbers, and the 
mechanical intricacies, at one time thought so 
inconvenient, have been simplified to such an ex- 
tent as to make the machines very close compet- 
itors with the revolving flat cards, even for card- 
ing select combed yarns. 

Licker-in and Carrier. — By the introduc- 
tion of the " licker-in " and " carrier " to the 
modern front-feed card, there are brought to- 
gether other good points for separating and 
ejecting the foreign matter. In these cards the 
licker-in is made to strike downwards, and the 
feed rollers are pitched so that the under is the 
setting roller and affords a marked advantage to 
exude the seeds and sand at this point, while 
another appliance, called an " extractor " in- 
creases the effectiveness under the centre line. 

The " carrier " revolves in an opposite direc- 
tion with as much more superficial velocity as is re- 
quisite to strip the fleece from the licker-in, while 
the cylinder,at a still higher speed, strips the carrier 
in the same manner. By this system of feeding 
we secure a downward blow for the cylinder, as 
well as the licker-in, thus offering additional fa- 
cilities to clear the fibre by the force of gravity. 

If we examine the direction given to the cot- 
ton, by this method of feeding, and the recent 

47 



improvements introduced, to assist in the ex- 
traction of the motes at this most accessible 
place, we can discover how well adapted this 
style of card is to the lower and softer grades of 
cotton and the reason why it is so much pre- 
ferred. by spinners for coarse counts. The per- 
nicious system of overloading has become so 
prevalent with spinners of these counts, that the 
good points on the cards are seldom secured. 
Large production and reduced attention are the 
conditions upon which these engines are run at 
the present time, so that the advantages of con- 
struction have little to do with the quality of the 
work. 

The Wellman Stripper Card. — There are 
really but two principles involved in the con- 
struction of cotton cards, which may be simply 
designated the flat and the roller. The principle 
of the flat is a succession of narrow carding sur- 
faces retained in close proximity to the cylinder, 
through the wire of which the cotton is teased 
along and straightened out by the action of the 
cylinder, while in the wire of said flats various im- 
purities and foreign matter lodge until removed 
by the stripper. On this principle we have the 
top-flat, the under-flat, and the revolving-flat. The 
American manufacturer long ago adopted the 
top-flat as the best for carding cotton. When 
Mr. Leigh, who spent many years trying to in- 

48 



vent a top-stripper, saw and studied the princi- 
ple of the Wellman attachment, he unhesitatingly 
admitted it to be the carding-engine of the future. 
And we think were it now put on the market for 
the first time it would be a very desirable and 
acceptable machine for all purposes, as indeed 
from the range of work it is doing it has proved 
to be. All admit that the cards which take out 
the most matter foreign to the yarn with the 
least loss of prime fibre are those upon which we 
accomplish the best results. When we lift the 
flats off the Wellman engine we cannot fail to 
observe the large amount of blighted seeds and 
short staple those next the feed-rolls contain, and 
how these impurities, though less in bulk, but still 
numerous, lodge in the last, or flats behind the 
doffer. This is a feature, and a very commend- 
able one, which no other cards but those of this 
type possess. 

The common and under-flat cards are shown 
to advantage when the strips are compared with 
even those of the revolving-flat. It is found, 
especially where the quick automatic is used, 
that they take out more dirt, seed, and short dead 
fibre, and prove that there are cleaning points in this 
card which have not yet been beaten. The es- 
sential difference, then, between the steady, and 
the revolving-flat is that the one is dragged over 
the cylinder, while the other is lifted from its 

49 



position to be stripped. There is no other im- 
provement on the one which cannot be equally 
well applied to the other. If a cylinder 50 inches 
by 40 inches, with other parts to correspond, is of 
any advantage, it is equally so in both. If shell 
feed and metallic lickers-in are desirable in the 
one, there is no reason why they should not be 
so in the other. In fact, every improved feature 
of the revolving- flat card can be utilized with 
equal advantage in the construction of the Well- 
man card. And so far as the flies, or drops, are 
concerned, there cannot be any great difference, 
because screens or grate bars can be equally 
well applied to both. 

Of course under this head the Foss and Pevey 
card is considered, and we have not yet seen or 
operated a carding-engine which gives so much 
area for cleaning and produces better work with 
less waste. Besides, any one capable of forming 
an unbiassed opinion' knows from practical ex- 
perience, that this purely American machine can 
produce 80 lbs. of carding per day of ten hours, 
with less power and expense than any other on 
the market, and this carding is superior and 
takes a wider range than almost any other. 

The Revolving Flat Card. — It is not neces- 
sary for the writer to seek information regarding 
the revolving flat, or as it is now designated, the 
traveling flat card, because it was the machine at 

50 



which, from boy to manhood, he worked. Thirty- 
five years ago in one of the largest mills at that 
time in the world, it was carding cotton for 40s 
water twist, and 60s filling. While attempting to 
describe the points which characterize this carding 
engine, no injustice shall be done to the other side ; 
but we shall endeavor to clear away some of the 
rubbish and sentiment that interfere with the 
merits or demerits of an old machine. 

It is said that in those days the construction of 
machinery for cotton-mills had not reached that 
point of development necessary to build such a 
complicated machine. Accuracy of workmanship 
and nicety of construction are absolutely requisite 
to the success of any machine in the factory as 
well as to that of the revolving flat card. 

The cylinders of the card under consideration 
were of cast-iron, turned up, pierced for plugs, 
and they ran as perfectly true as any we 
have ever seen and at as high a velocity as 
those of the new models. These cylinders 
were clothed with Horsfall's patent clothing, 
which has a name second to none at the present 
day. The flats traversed a circuit concentric with 
the cylinder, and each one had screws by which 
to adjust it. The lickers-in were clothed with 
diamond-pointed wire, and each machine carded 
in ten hours 130 lbs. of cotton for the above 
mentioned counts. The flats were ground with 

51 



full length grinders and were brushed with circu- 
lar brushes while working, so that no time was 
lost in stoppages. A man and a boy ground 
sixteen of those card cylinders and strickled and 
brushed the doffers in ten hours. 

The cotton which these cards carded for 40s 
twists and 60s wefts would make one of our mod- 
ern carders stare with wonder. The cylinders we 
see were ground j ust as much as they were in need of, 
once a day, and stripped after running five hours 
with a rapidly revolving circular brush, which 
was driven from a groove in the flange of the 
loose pulley, and held up in the same stands as the 
grinder. 

Now how much does the modern traveling flat 
card exceed this of thirty-seven years ago? 
What recent improvements, or special mechanism, 
has been added to it that has brought it prom- 
inently before our manufacturers of late? If im- 
provements have advanced in this machine, as it 
is asserted they have in others, the revolving flat 
engine of the present, must be a different card 
from the one at which we worked in 1854. There 
were difficulties encountered in building the old 
card which were hard to overcome, but which 
improved methods and tools, longer experience 
and greater resources, have been able to surmount, 
and for this reason the traveling flat card of to- 
day is a comparatively new machine. The chief 

52 



difficulty experienced at the time mentioned was in 
maintaining the circuit traveled by the flats con- 
centric with the cylinder, and in the forming and 
fitting of the parts necessary to secure this result. 

Formerly it was found very hard to get ac- 
curate mechanical construction in the upper sur- 
faces of the bends. That the wire of the flats 
resting on the bends should be in even and very 
close proximity to the wire of the cylinder, and 
run true in this manner all the way round, was 
absolutely essential. Not only so, but there must 
be provision made by which this could be 
continually maintained to accomodate ' the wear 
of the wire. This was the principal difficulty pre- 
sented in the construction of this card, and with 
this overcome, there is nothing about it that 
offers any obstacle in handling and caring for 
more than a common Wellman stripper engine. 

The Roller Card. — In spite of the improve- 
ments so expensively advanced as having been 
added to the preparation departments, and especi- 
ally to the cotton card, both at home and abroad 
during the last decade, what has been long known 
as the roller card has continued to fill an impor- 
tant place, and indeed hold its own, if not more, 
in numbers up to the medium. The principle of 
this . card is essentially different from the com- 
mon or traveling flat. It is built on the teasing and 
separating plan, and aspires to nothing it cannot 

53 



do, while it is operated on the very cheapest 
scale. 

The cotton is fed to this card with the improved 
shell-feed. Then by a small cylinder it is lifted 
from the main cylinder, doffed by another still 
smaller cylinder, by which it is fed back into the 
main cylinder again, and this is repeated sixteen 
or more times before it reaches the doffer. 

The roller card is not adapted to very fine work, 
but it is a popular machine in England on 
medium and coarse counts, because very little 
waste is made, there being no stoppings taken 
out. On the best authority this card is stated to 
be doing 175 lbs. in ten hours, on 36s yarn, and 
making first-class work. 



54 



CHAPTER VI. 

CARDING BLEACHED AND COLORED COTTON. 

Cause of Difficulties — The Need of a Moderate 
Even Temperature — Moisture — The Effects of Light 
— Artificial Light — The Preservation of the Color- 
Making Dyed Cotton Ready for the Cards — Faulty 
Dyeing — Squeezing and Extracting— Drying. 

Troubles with Such Cotton. — In carding 
bleached and colored cotton, difficulties crop up 
now and again which are never so annoying when 
the material is worked in the natural state. Trou- 
ble may always be expected when the temperature 
is low, with a dry crisp air, and cold north winds 
are prevailing. Manufacturers have been known 
during periods of this kind to be compelled to 
stop operations until the return of more favorable 
temperature. Others under such circumstance 
were able to go right along, without suffering any 
more than the ordinary inconveniences of such 
weather, and without having occasion to use ex- 
traordinary means for keeping matters right. 
Now why should such differences exist ? Why is 
it that one manufactory should go along so easily 
without trouble, and without having appliances 

55 



of any kind to overcome difficulties, while others 
with all kinds of attachments for averting the evils 
have the greatest trouble to get through the 
work ? This is the secret which we desire to un- 
ravel, and if we discover the causes which pro- 
duce the effect, we may suggest how to counter- 
act them, partially at least, and to a great extent 
remove the annoyance. 

Different causes of Difficulties.— For many 
of the evils which are likely to arise in the card- 
ing of bleached or colored cottons, it is, we fear, 
impossible to point out a remedy. The many 
changes in the temperature that occur during the 
year ; the time that elapses after drying until the 
cotton is brought to the cards; and the manner in 
which it is handled previously, all combine to sup- 
ply causes for annoyance at this particular place. 

It is well understood that bleached and colored 
cottons absorb a deal more moisture than the or- 
dinary fibres, and a continuous moderate tempera- 
ture is the most favorable for carding them. It is, 
therefore, necessary that the factory should be on 
low ground, with a stream close by, and sheltered 
by hills on the north and east. The basement or 
cardroom should be as low as possible, and no air 
openings should be under the floor whereby cold 
currents may ascend. It is a very troublesome 
business to card cotton out of which the natural 
oil has been extracted by bleaching or otherwise. 

56 



Especially is this the case in a factory exposed to 
the full force of the northern winds, with the card- 
room above a sub-cellar, or with floors through 
which air-currents have free passage. 

The character of the building and machinery 
are also powerful factors in making this kind of 
cotton. In the location described, the cold air often 
rushes with force through the crevices and open- 
ings, creating a strong upward current. It draws the 
fibre, when in a fleecy state, in all directions, divides 
the slivers on the railway and drawing heads, 
causing them to spread out and separate. Be- 
cause these air-currents inflate the bleached and 
dyed fibres, the cotton will cling to the conduc- 
tors and condensing roll. It no longer remains 
compact. It loses its affinity. It sticks to the 
edges and sides of the cans. It will not fall into 
the cans. In fact it cannot be pushed down in 
any good shape into them with the hand. The 
currents of cold air rushing upwards to displace 
the lighter and warmer air above, give the fleeces 
an .upward tendency, which causes the fibres to 
spread and cling to everything around them. In 
carding the bleached and dyed fibres the air must 
be well impregnated with moisture. 

Temperature and Moisture. — The dry-air 

from steam pipe heating lacks the moisture neces- 
sary to prevent this confusion, except at a tempera- 
ture considerably lower than it is usually kept at 

57 



while the fibre in the natural state is being carded. 
Still in no case can it be dispensed with, in this 
climate at least. But it is often forced so high 
as to be unbearable to the operatives. When 
the weather outside is cold, as a remedy for sticky 
work the heat in the room is often raised to 90 de- 
grees and more, while it is well known that com- 
mon cotton cards and works best at between 70 
and 75 degrees. In this case of colored and 
bleached fibre extreme heat will not help; it only 
aggravates the evils, and is therefore just the re- 
verse of what is required, for the greater the heat 
in the room, the stronger will be the upward 
current of air. The proper way is to maintain 
the temperature at a minimum. Both night and 
day let the thermometer stand at about 65 de- 
grees. The moisture will then average 60. Have 
three thermometers to try with, one near the 
floor, one near the ceiling, and one in the middle 
for the working test. The difference between the 
upper and lower will be the force of the upward 
current. If the difference is kept between one 
and two degrees, the working or middle ther- 
mometer may be as high as 68°. But there will 
be trouble if the upper and lower show a vari- 
ation of from 6° to 8°. 

Some carders have, with good results, had re- 
course to a system of heating the cans by steam 
pipes or other appliances, for the purpose of cre- 

58 



ating a downward draught. The object is to 
make the lower part of the can warm, and to 
cause the air at the upper part to fall with force, 
creating a downward current which will take the 
cotton with it. This method is considerably bet- 
ter than the system of blowing steam around the 
rollers, which causes everything to rust and does 
no good at all to the cardings. If the air is 
found to be too dry, very fine jets of steam might 
be allowed to issue on the north side of the build- 
ing, as near the ceiling as possible, and perhaps 
ten feet apart, because to create a downward cur- 
rent the moistened air is valuable ; at least it is 
useful in checking or retarding the upward cur- 
rent and materially counteracts the cause of bad 
work. 

In connection with this matter there are other 
things to be considered, such as the dyeing, the 
drying and the storing before the stock is pre- 
sented to the card, as well as the mixing and the 
best method of obtaining bright colors. 

The Effects of Light.— Though good light 
is essential for all kinds of carding, yet intense 
light is very injurious to colored work. Solid 
colors withstand the light better and fly apart 
less. With mixtures, or when white is used with 
a heavy color, it is very troublesome, because 
they have no affinity. The lighter color has a 
tendency to fly from the heavy, and intense rays 

59 



of light, as well as intense heat, increase the at- 
tractive power which draws the colors apart. 
When light penetrates with force, it may be sub- 
dued considerably by colored window curtains, 
or frosted glass. This will also contribute ma- 
terially to preserving the color of the cotton, 
giving it a brighter tint and a better gloss, qual- 
ities very desirable to preserve, but on which the 
light has a bad effect. If these were all the advan- 
tages procured by having the light mellowed, they 
would be sufficient to recommend it, but there 
are others. There will be less waste made, less 
piecings of ends, less labor and more perfect work. 

Artificial Light. — All the influences which 
make the work go badly in a mill with white 
cotton have doubled force in the mill running on 
colored work. Especially is there a harassing 
time when the machinery has been standing idle 
for a day or two. In such a case, good results 
may be obtained from lighting the gas for a 
couple of hours. The heat thus diffused has a 
softening influence on the atmosphere, and per- 
mits a certain amount of moisture, which steam 
heat does not give. 

The effect of gas-light on the drawing of the 
cotton is very marked and favorable, especially 
when a wind storm springs up and scatters the 
fibres in all directions. By the aid of gas-light 
the effects may often be controlled, and the work 
60 



kept going right along. In exposed locations 
when sudden changes oftenest occur, use of gas- 
light is one of the best temporary expedients 
practiced. It gives heat and moisture combined, 
radiating from below, as well as from above, and 
giving no perceptible upward current. 

Preserving the Color. — The saving effected 
in the working of cotton after coloring makes the 
practice desirable, but it is very difficult to obtain 
and preserve colors that will compare with those 
to be found in the dyed yarn. In many cases 
this kind of manufacture is carried on. without 
the necessary amount of skill and knowledge, so 
that the endeavor to approximate to the nice 
shades and colors of the material that has been 
dyed in the yarn is not satisfactorily accomplished. 
The desire to have a good color is, of course, 
strong, and yet in many instances the extraor- 
dinary efforts to get it tend only to destroy the 
effect and to injure the work. During the card- 
ing-, much of the coloring: matter falls out, and 
the same thing occurs in the process of drawing 
and twisting, all of which hurts the color and 
ought to be avoided by proper methods in dyeing. 
It is absolute waste to load the material with un- 
needed quantities of dye. The fine fibres will 
only absorb a certain quantity of dye and any 
additional amount put on them is sure to go to 
waste. Carelessness in preparing the cotton for 

61 



the cards, and in loading it with more matter than 
is necessary, has a very injurious effect on the 
preservation of the colors. 

Making dyed cotton ready for the cards. 

— The desideratum in preparing fibres of dyed 
cotton for the card is to have them free, and de- 
void of stickiness, so that they will not be badly 
torn, and the liability of the color to come out be 
increased. If the processes before reaching the 
cards are intelligently performed, that machine 
will be relieved of duties which do not properly 
belong to it. Bleached or dyed cotton should be 
stored away for a week or ten days, at the least, 
before carding. In this delay lies the cure for 
almost every evil incidental to the manufacture 
of this class of goods, as compared with the ordi- 
nary white goods. After the cotton is brought 
from the drier, it should not be packed tight ; es- 
pecially if only the stated number of days are to 
intervene before using. It should be laid on a 
floor where the air can circulate above, below, 
and around it, and the temperature should be 
kept steadily, night and day, at as near 65 de- 
grees as possible, for the reason that if it is too 
dry it will absorb the proper quantity of moisture, 
and if too wet, it will part with the moisture with 
which it is overcharged. By having this rule 
closely observed the cotton will be brought as 
near as can be to its natural state. 
62 



If brought to the carding engine too dry, much 
of the color will be thrown off in combing the 
fibres, and it will appear dull and faded, and be- 
sides, dry, warm stock is always more likely to 
generate electricity. On the other hand, if the 
cotton be brought forward in its too wet condi- 
tion it will not only lose color in the carding and 
drawing, but it will also destroy the card wire and 
produce a poor quality of work. So the very 
simple rules which indicate how to preserve the 
color in the best possible manner, also help to 
preserve the card clothing and to make the best 
work all round. . 

Faulty Dyeing. — There are no manufactur- 
ers of dyed yarns who do not desire to get at 
least moderately fast colors. There is great dis- 
similarity in the cotton manipulated by different 
dyers. Much depends on the facilities at their 
command, and a great deal upon the methods 
adopted in the work. A most important thing is 
the cleaning out of the vat, which should be done 
regularly and often. A desire to save may move 
the dyer to keep the old sediment for a large num- 
ber of dyes. This may be properly called wast- 
ing, because in cotton there is a small percentage 
of natural oil which operates against the action 
of the dye and remains in the liquor, which, 
when used often, becomes overcharged and causes 
the material to feel greasy. When in this state, 

63 



the dye easily rubs off. The pressure of the rol- 
lers of the various machines will obliterate every 
vestige of the brightness, and by the time the 
cotton gets into the cloth it will look dingy, dull, 
and faded. 

The way to get the best possible color with 
the least amount of dye, and to have at least 
moderately fast colors is the most economical. 
To make this sure, the vat ought to be cleaned 
out every time, and the liquor used as a mordant 
on the next vat following. Then use only once, 
after which let it pass away. By this method it 
takes rather less dye to set the vat, the colors are 
always regular and the cotton pleasant to the 
touch. This may be called the economy of dyeing 
fugitive colors, although in this system there is 
extra cost for the plant, for it requires two vats 
instead of one, to do it effectively. But it pro- 
duces good results in the work afterwards, and 
gives a good appearance to the cloth. 

We do not pretend to be competent to give in- 
strutions in dyeing, but we do know when the 
work is badly done and that bad dyeing interferes 
greatly with good carding. Cotton having a 
greasy, "soggy" feel in handling, will not card 
well. It will not separate at the feed-rolls. It 
clogs on the wire ; the short fibres roll into min- 
ute balls, and make what is called a " nitty" sliver. 
A fleece of this carding, if held up to the light, 

64 



would seem to be full of small "nits," and in such 
a state it can never make good work. 
Squeezing and Extracting.— Cotton that is 

wet lies inert; it has no spring or elasticity like 
wool, but without resistance remains just as it 
has been pressed. It is very desirable that the 
cotton should be kept as open as possible during 
the extracting, so that the process of drying may 
be forwarded with such uniformity as will insure 
good carding. Cotton squeezed through rolls 
under a heavy pressure is never in good condi- 
tion for carding, because it is in slabby, hard- 
compressed pieces. The dryer will not open 
these to any appreciable extent, nor will the 
beater in the lapper entirely do so, and when 
presented to the card in this irregular state, the 
•wire although of the best tempered steel, sharp- 
ened and set in the most approved fashion, will 
not produce good even work. From poor card- 
ing, all the other evils follow, such as uneven 
yarn, bad spinning, and large quantities of waste 
at each operation. The flies and strips from the 
cards, when on stock of this description, are 
double what they ought to be. It is nonsense 
to try to make work out of lumpy material, and 
when the water is pressed out with rollers cotton 
is always lumpy after being dried. Some por- 
tions, which receive more pressure than the rest, 
come through in shining cakes, glistening like 
65 



silver. These spots are not taken out by all the 
machines combined, and they often appear in the 
cloth in such numbers that they cannot be 
" burled " out. Rollers also press out the color- 
ing and produce a variety of shades to the same 
lot of material, which when worked up on the 
picker and card give anything but a true 
color. 

It will be observed from these remarks that 
good hydro-extracting is, for this kind of mate- 
rial, the only sure way in which to keep it spongy, 
so that the air will circulate, and be distributed 
all through the mass drying it with uniformity 
and in a condition to preserve the brilliancy of 
the colors. 

The Importance of Proper Drying. — We 

have referred to this already, but it is of such 
importance that it ought to have a paragraph to 
itself. The cold-air method is the safest for this 
kind of material. 

One of the most notable difficulties produced 
by over-drying is the development of electricity 
in the carding. It is generated, no doubt, to 
some extent by the heat with which the fibre 
is impregnated, and this is so tormenting and so 
certain to produce bad work that the cotton 
would be more profitable in the bale. These 
conditions can be obviated if the material is ex- 
tracted without lumpiness and dried in the right 
66 



manner. If over-dried, the life and strength of 
the fibre are destroyed ; for, although of great 
tenacity, it can be singed and have its vitality 
completely burned out. When hot-air drying 
is used, there should be an experienced hand to 
attend to it, for there may be some portions 
over-done and some under-done, the results of 
which will be as before-mentioned. With hot 
air much experience is required to tell when the 
cotton is dry enough; but when properly dried, 
and with reasonable facilities for storage, to give 
it a chance to " age " and return to the natural 
state, it will be found when wanted to be in 
as good a condition to work well, and with 
little more trouble than the common white 
stock. 

The Use of Seed Extractors on the Cards. 

— In carding colored stock, every appliance 
known to have been used with success, in remov- 
ing the specks and nits, should be adopted. 
The Keene extractor, the shell flat and the adjust- 
able knife have their proper places here, and 
will be found to more than repay their use in a 
short time. In mixtures with black and white, 
or black and yellow, the smallest speck, or 
" nit," is plainly seen, and whether done in the 
vat or by the squeezing process, stands out very 
prominently. By the use of these appliances on 
the cards, the yarn and cloth of very opposite 
67 



colors are made clean in appearance and soft to 
the feel. The great point, therefore, in carding 
and spinning this kind of stock, is to let it " age," 
and so naturally return to its original state, 
without which it is not possible to get good 
carding and fast colors. 



68 



CHAPTER VII. 

CARDING FOR COMBED YARNS. 

SKILL REQUIRED FOR THIS PROCESS — GOOD MACHINERY 
NEEDED — POINTS THAT MUST BE LOOKED AFTER — THOR- 
OUGH CARDING CALLED FOR — USE OF THE DRAWING-HEAD 
COILERS. 

Skill Required. — There is no process in 
cotton spinning less frequently discussed than 
that of making combed yarns, nor is there one 
in which so much skill is required to make the 
operation successful. Very few not directly 
engaged in it realize the amount of extra labor, 
caution and cleanliness necessary to keep the 
yarn up to the standard. One thing is in favor 
of the carder for these counts : He does not have 
to contend with the unknown constituents of a 
lower grade, but has always honest and well- 
selected material to handle. 

Good Machinery Needed.— As there is 
but the single process allowed in all concerns 
when combed yarns are made it is very essential 
that the cards shall be first-rate in every respect. 
The clothing of the cylinders and flats must be 
composed of the best material. The wire must 
6 9 



be of hardened and tempered steel, so as to in- 
sure the desired elasticity and a better and more 
lasting point, thus permitting harder usage and 
withstanding the excess of stress necessitated by 
the carding of the longer staple. Hardened and 
tempered steel wire has now greatest popularity, 
and is almost universally used for fine carding. 
The flat card system has been accepted every- 
where as the best for carding Egyptian, Sea Isl- 
and or Peeler cottons. The material demanded 
for the class of yarn under consideration will not 
admit of being teased and disunited in a rough 
way. It must be combed over the ends and 
drawn into parallel fibres by the means best 
known to the carder. By feeding slowly to the 
periphery of a well-clothed cylinder, running at 
a moderate velocity, and by using the feed with 
the most tenacious grip, we have the kind of 
machine most desirable for this work. We also 
want the flat which will take out the most dirt, 
and at the same time draw the fibre best into 
line. Hence it is the flats, and the methods by 
which they are actuated, which secure preference 
for the principles involved in the flat carding 
system. 

The arrangements for setting the flats at a per- 
fectly graduated slant from one end of the cir- 
cuit to the other, and the positive manner in 
which they are held to their duty, are wonder- 
70 



fully free from defect. Each flat, with certain 
motion, travels over in closest proximity to the 
cylinder, wire to wire, without touching; the 
whole space occupied by the full set. The clean 
flat enters upon its work behind the doffer, and 
finishes it at the feed-rolls. This continual mo- 
tion tends greatly to draw the staple into line, 
and to straighten it, thus giving a degree of ex- 
cellence to the carding that few other machines 
can impart to long-stapled stock. The feed is set 
a little under, in order to allow the periphery of 
the cylinder to come nearer to the nip of the 
fibre. This is where the draft of the card is, 
and here the straightening process takes place. 
By the set of the feed, and the quality and sharp- 
ness of the wire, the crossed fibres are the better 
reduced. 

At this place the extractor is now in operation 
with the best results. It sets very nicely to the 
cylinder, and its sensitiveness recommends it. 
It is a mote-catcher that once seen will be sum- 
moned to the aid of the card working for combed 
yarns. 

Stationary flats do their duty well. They, too, 
are extractors, holding to the periphery of the 
cylinder, a one-and-a-half inch face, slightly 
raised at the edge next the impact, for the pur- 
pose of catching the short and foreign matter 
which the centrifugal force throws off. These 

7i 



faced flats are therefore very little, if any, inferior 
to the most improved traveling flats for the pur- 
pose of producing well-carded and well-straigh- 
tened cotton, for combed yarns, except it be in 
the quantity carded. 

This is the kind of card and the sort of 
carding which is most desirable for the best yarns, 
and in order to give the machines the greatest 
chance to produce such work, we dispense with 
the licker-in. Here an almost indispensable ad- 
junct on the coarse grades is not allowed. A 
great egester of seeds and motes, a great opener 
of stock, and a saver of clothing is not considered 
profitable for Sea Island cotton, or other long- 
stapled material, because it prevents the cylinder 
to a large extent from straightening and laying 
the fibres. 

That the wire on the cylinder does straighten 
the fibres better when brought into immediate 
contact with the feed, is a fact which all who 
have attempted an analysis of the science of card- 
ing will admit. Wide set feed-rolls cause the cot- 
ton to lap around the one from which the cylinder 
bites, and instead of the fibres being properly 
laid on, they trail, as it were, and get into 
small bunches, thus missing the efficiency of the 
process partly, if not altogether. The laps on 
these rolls often become so hard, when card- 
ing long stock, that the teeth of the clothing 

72 



will get set back with serious injury to the 
wire. 

The doffer is, scientifically speaking, for the 
purpose of collecting the fibres from the cylinder 
and delivering them at a specified weight. But 
in order that the doffer may perform this func- 
tion in a satisfactory manner, it must be set in 
such close proximity to the cylinder as to be 
just clear. Now, if a blister, or some other im- 
perfection, makes necessary the withdrawal of 
that doffer from its most effective seat, what will 
the consequences be? In the first place, the doffer 
will begin to deliver a lighter quantity, and in 
the next place, the cylinder will retain, for some 
time at least, the fibre which the doffer ought to 
be delivering. But in a short time the cylinder 
will have more than it can carry, when the cot- 
ton will begin to nit by rolling and the centrifugal 
force will throw it in every possible direction. 
These are extreme cases, to be sure, and easily 
attended to. But there lie between the perfect 
working card and these extremes, certain partic- 
ulars incidental to minute degrees of setting, 
which are not so readily watched and guarded 
against, and the attending to which marks the 
successful carder of fine stock. 

Points to be looked after. — Clothing should 

be drawn and nailed on by a thoroughly practi- 
cal man, who understands just what is wanted, 

73 



because regularity of stretch prevents blisters. 
Still it is possible to run cards so close that the 
best stretched clothing will spring and blister. 
An ill-set jam may have the same effect, and 
cause the same trouble. A bungled jam may 
be even worse than a blister, for the teeth may be 
so loosened in the bottom as to lose their elas- 
ticity. It may set them to leaning both ways, 
according to the pressure, standing neither 
against the cotton nor the grinder, but straigh- 
tening out with the centrifugal force and making 
bad and nitty carding. 

The nit in coarse numbers does not show so 
prominently as when the thread is drawn out to 
a very fine count. Here it stands out in bold re- 
lief and carries its evils with it, all of which are 
attributed to inefficiency in the carding. 

These nits are not found uniformly distributed 
through the whole of the carding, but are most 
numerous in cards of the above description, or be- 
fore stripping or sharpening time. The cause of this 
is the fact, that the longer the card is allowed to 
run, the heavier will be the accumulation of strip, ' 
and the more likelihood there is for the cotton to 
roll between the points of the teeth. 

Of course the better the condition the card is 
in, the more surely the nits will be reduced both 
in size and number. Still, in carding stock suit- 
able for fine yarns, it is a very difficult matter to 

74 



keep the work clear of nits. In fact it is not ef- 
fected at all without the aid of the combing 
machine. 
Thorough Carding Necessary.— It has 

been said that the passing of the cotton once 
through the cards is sufficient, when combing 
machines are used, because these will deal with 
the shorts and motes while the combs will take 
out all the rest required. Still, an object to be 
aimed at is to have the material in proper condi- 
tion, before presenting it to the combs ; and the 
method of doing this in the most practical as well 
as the most economical form. Before the advent 
of combs we were compelled to continue carding 
the staple until it was free from every speck that 
would in anyway be detrimental to the yarn. 
This was very weakening to the fibre and caused 
great trouble in the after process, and was the 
source from which came the large quantities of 
waste that went back to the pickers. The combs 
have obviated all this and they do the cleaning 
much better than any cards possibly could. 

Use of the Drawing-head.— But there is still 
another condition of efficiency to be noted here 
which tends to the progressive evening of the 
fibres lengthways, and diminishes to some extent 
the weakening effects resulting from carding 
doubles. It has always been found in practice to 
be expedient to run the cotton once and sometimes 

75 



twice through the drawing-head, as a very useful 
help in doing what the cards leave undone in the 
way of evening and laying the staple in the 
same direction. When it is understood that the 
combing machine requires the cotton to be laid 
lengthways as much as possible, in order that the 
nippers may catch it in the most advantageous 
position, it will be seen that the idea of elonga- 
ting by drawing was a very natural one. 

Coilers. — Coilers are not so numerous in fine 
mills now as they were ten years ago. They 
were extensively used at first, but small defects 
were found which were hard to remedy. These 
decreased the desire to have them, and in spite of 
the beauty of their workmanship and excellence 
in can-filling, they are not gaining ground. 

Beater-Speeds. — In mills where fine yarns 
are a specialty a very perceptible difference in 
the beater-speeds will be found in the picker- 
rooms. The velocity must be proportioned to 
the length of the staple. Long-stapled cottons 
have an economical point of beater-speed some- 
where, which, like the twist of roving, is learned 
only by experience. It has been demonstrated 
by a series of experiments, carried on under very 
favorable circumstances, that the correct limit of 
beater-speed for long-stapled stock is between 
seventeen and eighteen hundred revolutions of 
the ordinary double bladed perforated beater. 

76 



The Sectional Evener possesses very su- 
perior gripping power, and is therefore well 
adapted for fine cottons, because long stock is 
more subject to be pulled in bunches. This is 
prevented to a great extent by the manner in 
which the rollers of the evener are constructed, 
so as to hold the cotton with double power. 



77 



CHAPTER VIII. 

COMBING THE COTTON FIBRE. 

THE COMBING MACHINE — FINE YARNS MUST BE COMBED — 
THE NIPPER AND COMB SYSTEM — CAPACITY OF THE COMB 

— COMBER-WASTE — WEAR AND REPAIR THE NUMBER OF 

THE NEEDLES — THE SLIVER — CAM- MOTIONS DRAFT AND 

WEIGHT OF LAPS — RULES FOR SETTING THE COMBS. 

The Combing Machines. — The changes ef- 
fected in the preparation of fine counts by the intro- 
duction of the combing machine are surprising. 
That machine embodies ideas of distinct origin- 
ality, in the development of which several me- 
chanical difficulties are made to harmonize. 
Here the cam-motions are made exclusively 
practical, and show with what concise regularity 
they may be made to bring fibre to fibre. The 
finest needle-pointed tempered steel wire is re- 
quired for these combs. This preparatory pro- 
cess is of a delicate and complicated character, 
and on every detail of it much depends. It has 
been reserved for this age to complete and in- 
troduce an invention which takes hold of the 
cotton fibre in a natural way and sends it to the 
spinner in a state which far surpasses anything 
of the kind previously known. 

78 



It is a complex contrivance, to be sure, and 
has been a long time making its way to favor 
among manufacturers, but those who spin fine 
numbers now realize that they cannot get along 
without it. 

FineYarnsmustbe Combed. — The combing 
machines have now been in operation long 
enough to have stood the test of experiment, to 
which inventions brought for the first time into 
practical use are necessarily subjected. There 
can be no question, in spite of some differences 
of opinion, that fine spinners have reached the 
conclusion that they cannot succeed without 
them. The preparing of the cotton for the 
spinner is a perplexing problem, which often 
confounds the wisest man. The more we are 
pressed for quantity, the heavier the carding 
must be made, and the more deterioration of the 
quality is aggravated. But the machine under 
consideration is so sensitive in every particular 
that to push it hard will deprive it of efficiency 
with fine numbers Its capacity for separating 
the short fibre from the long, and for evening 
and straightening it at the same time, is a suffi- 
cient warrant of its real practical utility. 

The Nipper and Comb System.— The feat- 
ures of this machine are the nipper and comb 
method, by which the nits and broken seeds, with 
the fine hairy feelers or prongs that reach out in all 

79 



directions and intertwine with such persistency, 
are effectually dissevered and removed, and the 
healthy fibre sent forward in a perfectly clean 
and purified condition. It is then ready to be 
drawn out to any degree of fineness, for the pur- 
pose of making thread, or to be woven into 
cambric without spot or blemish. The picker 
and the card, and we might safely include the 
gin also, have a tendency to split and deteriorate 
the fibre, and to reduce its strength considerably. 
By the way which they are constructed they 
cannot but cross and tangle the fibres ; but in 
the combing machine the impurities are carried 
over the ends by the needles, in a manner which 
is perfectly natural, and better calculated to even 
and lay the staple in a parallel state than to in- 
jure it. In fact, from the way in which it is 
drawn by the combs, it cannot be otherwise than 
inclined in the same direction. 

The capacity of the Comb. — A machine that 
can be adjusted to take out from five to forty per 
cent, of the fibre, according to the length desired 
for the numbers, must be applicable to a w r ide 
range of work. This scope is not half developed 
yet, but in time it will be fully employed in kinds 
of manufacture which requires justa certain length 
of staple and which no other machine can supply 
with nearly the same exactitude. Besides, there 
are classes of goods which cannot be made soft 

80 



or silky to the feel with the present preparation, 
but when combed, fibres are found to spin with 
less twist and to make a much softer cloth with 
a gloss and beauty after calendering and finishing 
which are far ahead of anything the cards can 
do in this line. The manner in which cotton 
cloth that requires brilliancy of color and soft, 
fleecy facing is now made must be departed from, 
and the combs brought into action to prepare the 
stock, because superior work and clean soft 
cloth are always secured from combed yarns. A 
manufacturer also knows just what he is going to 
get from the combs and can depend upon re- 
ceiving it in the shape required. 

Comber Waste.— It must not be forgotten that 
the short or noils thrown off by the doners from 
the combs are from what is considered an ex- 
tremely good class of cotton and are therefore 
much sought after to manufacture into coarse 
yarns. These shorts command a fair price and 
make the strongest quality of a coarse grade of 
goods. Buyers know that this cotton is carded 
before it is brought to the comber and cannot on 
this account be foul. This, together with the fact 
of its coming from a superior class of stock, makes 
it sought for, and it always commands a ready 
sale. An industry like this is very profitable, 
and is sure to be established in any locality where 
there are sufficient combs to make it an object. 
81 



Wear and Repair. — There is one more point 
which it may be proper, to consider in connection 
with the combing machine and its properties for 
work, and that is the wear and tear. Some ma- 
chinery is very costly to keep in such order 
as will ensure the desired results ; especially is 
this so with regard to the carding engine. No 
machine requires more care or more outlay to 
keep it in perfect order than the one first men- 
tioned. The comb, however, does not require 
any great outlay on furnishings. To be sure it 
wants to be set regularly, and the comb teeth 
now and again must be renewed. This is cheaply 
and easily done, often, when there are not a large 
number of machines, by the carder himself. A 
place is appointed for the repairing of the combs 
where the special tools required for the purpose 
are kept. After the broken needle-points are 
taken out, and the place in which they were is 
cleared of the old solder and cleaned of every 
speck of oily matter, it is thorougly tinned over, 
and the steel points, according to the number, 
lifted with a magnet and placed the proper dis- 
tance apart. After this a little acid is applied and 
then a hot soldering-iron with a very little solder 
is run across lightly. This closes up the inter- 
stices between the needles and sets them firmly in 
place. Great care must be taken to clean and 
brush the combs after this, because the acid will 
82 



rust them and make trouble afterwards about the 
work. 

The Number of the Needles. — The needles 
of the combs are made of tempered steel wire and 
of the following numbers. 

From one to six comb. 22 wire. 

" seven " nine 24 " 

" ten " eleven 26 " 

" twelve " thirteen 28 " 

" fourteen to fifteen 30 " 

" sixteen " seventeen 33 " 

and top " comb 28 " 

The top comb rests in front of the cushion- 
plate, and is the last set of needles through 
which the cotton passes. Here, then, are seven- 
teen rows of combs, composed of different sizes 
of wire, all of which are drawn through every 
fibre, on the same principle as with the familiar 
process of combing the hair. Indeed it is said, 
and we doubt not with considerable truthfulness, 
that the idea originated from this. But, be this 
as it may, the idea is the only natural one we 
have ever seen put in practice to take the im- 
purities out of cotton. 

Improved Machines.— The nipper holds 
the one end of the fibre against the cushion, and 
the rolls the other, until alternately the combs 
pass through both ways. The improved ma- 
chines are adapted to comb both ends of the 



staple with the cylinder, while the older ones 
dress but one end with the cylinder, and the 
other with one, or sometimes two, top combs. 
These latter machines seem to make a consid- 
erable advance in the proper direction, and will 
tend to make the comb more popular on this ac- 
count. These machines have longer cylinders 
with two comb sections, and two fluted sections, 
and a double grooved cam to correspond. 

Disjointed and Pieced-up Slivers.— A dis- 
jointing of the sliver is the result of each turn of 
the cylinder, a circumstance which cannot as yet 
be avoided on account of the combs being con- 
structed to carry the motes, nits, and short over 
the ends of the sound staple when held between 
nipper and cushion. The rolls therefore have to 
return part-way back, at each revolution of the 
cylinder, in order to piece up and deliver a con- 
nected sliver. The distance the rolls have to re- 
turn must be nicely adjusted, or else irregular and 
hacked slivers will be delivered and the work 
will prove uneven and break so that large quan- 
ities of waste will have to be made. It is part of 
the business of a carder who runs combs to see 
that the motion of the rolls backwards is so 
geared that the inaccuracies resulting from this 
continuous break and splice of the sliver are 
scarcely noticable. These continual piecings 
are a serious drawback, and no doubt any 

84 



remedy looking to an uninterrupted delivery of a 
combed sliver would be an escape from needless 
work. 

Cam-Motions. — A very peculiar action 
in the mechanism of the comb takes place in 
the back-turn of the rolls for the purpose of re- 
uniting the sliver. The seventeen rows of combs, 
when set in the cylinder, occupy somewhat less 
than one-half of the circumference, and the re- 
maining part is intentionally left vacant. When 
the needles pass through the fibres of the sliver 
held out to them, the cushion and nipper fall into 
this vacancy and permit the rolls without rubbing 
to return and piece up. 

The cam and ball which operate this move- 
ment must be watched and kept without play, 
because the slightest digression from the positive 
direction is the source of great trouble and long 
stoppages. In fact, anywhere on this machine 
where two distinct motions are made to take up 
the same space alternately, particular care must 
be taken with the cams and balls. The latter 
must be tempered hard, and made a good, easy fit 
all round the cam. There being no other ma- 
chine in the carding-room where the cam and 
ball are brought into action so much as in the one 
referred to, it is therefore necessary that the op- 
erator shall get thoroughly acquainted with this 
part of the work and never forget, when putting 

85 



in a new ball, to feel it with the fingers all round 
the groove. This is important in practice, as 
cams are often burst because these small things 
are not being looked to in time. On a combing 
machine head there is complicated work, some of 
which is pretty hard to get at, so that when an 
accident occurs from some small neglect there is 
often a large amount of work to be done for the 
necessary repairs. 

The Prevention of Weak Work. — To make 
the weak parts disappear from the combed sliver, 
a much greater number of doublings is neces- 
sary than is really good for the work. 
Still, these must be resorted to for the purpose 
of reducing the cloudiness. This is a delicate opera- 
tion to do well, to avoid waste, and not to stretch 
the sliver so as to make it uneven. The feeble- 
ness of the sliver delivered from the combs ne- 
cessitates such a loose release from the rolls that 
there is always a danger of lumping or bunching 
under the condensing rolls. The operator, there- 
fore, has to be continually on the alert for this, and 
at the same time to make sure that the polished 
table on which the ends double and pass along to 
the can-head or coiler, as the case may be, is 
always free from any damp or sticky substance 
which would cause them to adhere and make a 
break in the doubling. A considerable amount 
of valuable waste is often made at this place, and 
86 



nothing must be neglected, even to the slightest 
detail, to keep it down. 
The Draft and Weight of Laps. — The 

total draft of a combing machine with the draw- 
box is about 16; that is to say, one inch going 
in at the back or feed rolls comes out at the coiler 
1 6 inches. The laps are generally six in number 
to a machine. Some have only four. Others 
again have eight ; but six is the average and the 
lap generally weighs from 160 to 200 grains per 
yard. We have had combs running with a lap 
194 grains per yard, six laps to a machine ; that is 
1 164 grains per yard feeding at the back or feed- 
rolls and when it entered the coiler it weighed 
but 65 grains to the yard, with a loss by combing 
in waste and noils of 17 per cent. 

Essentials to be Remembered when Draft- 
ing. — In drafting a combing machine it is essential 
to bear in mind that the index-gear and the cam- 
shaft both run at the same velocity. The index- 
gear is on the cylinder shaft, and with a pin 
attached to it drives the feeding rolls, and the 
gear on the end of the cam-shaft the delivering 
rolls. The ratchet-gear, which drives the de- 
taching shaft and front rolls, is also driven by 
the cam-shaft, one turn of which makes one 
tooth of the ratchet. In working out the rule 
for drafting, which will be given in another 
chapter, it will be necessary to remember that the 

87 



notched gear makes four turns for one of the 
ratchet. 

Rules for Setting the Comb. — The following 
rules are generally used for setting a Hetherington 
comb for long Sea-island cotton; but these may 
be slightly modified to advantage on other 
grades: Lever or catch to fall in at i%&; lever 
or catch to fall out at io}i. Commence to feed 
in at 4^6. Detaching roll to touch circle plate, or 
the fluted part of comb cylinder at 6}£. Nipper 
to touch cushion plate at 8^j. Leave off draw- 
ing at g}4- Drop top comb at 6j^. 

Another Rule used on Egyptian Stock. — 

Cylinder to gauge at 5.25. Catch to fall in at fully 
1.3. Catch to fall out at 13.25. Top comb down 
at 7.1 ; Cushion plate up at 5.1. Nippers meet 
at 9.75. Detaching roller down at 7.1. Detach- 
ing roller up at 10. Feed to begin at 10.56. 
Top comb to set as close as possible. These 
points are all shown on the index-gear, and can 
be understood after considerable practice. 



SS 



CHAPTER IX. 

DOUBLING AND DRAWING THE SLIVER, 

THE QUESTION OF HOW MANY DOUBLINGS — IMPERFECTIONS 

IN DRAWING — SETTING ROLLERS — PERFECT DRAWING 

EXTRA DOUBLINGS NOT ALWAYS BEST — IMPROVED DRAW- 
INGS—IMPORTANCE OF CAN-FILLING. 

Few or Many Doublings. — There are carders 
who recommend few doublings for the purpose of 
producing an even sliver ; but they by no means 
make it clear why it is they would discard an 
old and tried system. Few practical men would 
advocate an innovation of this kind without 
having special reasons therefor. " In nine cases 
out of ten," says one of these overseers/' uneven- 
ness is produced in the drawing." Wherein, 
then, is the use of all the exactness resorted to in 
the carding, in order to make the work straight 
and clean, if it is made uneven the moment it 
enters the drawing rolls ? And why is it that, 
as a remedy, we should be advised to take out a 
doubling ? The answer to these questions is to 
be found in our improved quantity-producing 

89 



cards, or, to be more exact, in the manner in 
which they are operated, as will be seen. 

A Case in Point. — A room with 60 cards of 
the old pattern, and 5 railway heads, 12 cards to 
the section, is calculated to card sufficient to run 
the spindles. These cards are thrown out, and 
24 of the large-producing kind put in. Now, 
the first-named machines kept two grinders bus- 
ily engaged to maintain them in good working 
trim. But when the new style machines were 
set to work, one grinder was dismissed on 
account of the small number of cards to care for 
and the other one was intrusted with the charge 
of grinding and setting the whole. These 24 
cards were driven so that they actually produced 
more work than the 60 old ones did; and all 
this weight of sliver was forced through three 
railway heads. The weight necessary to hang 
on the rolls, to draw in any kind of fair shape 
the concentrated slivers of eight of these cards, 
is sufficient to keep the top rolls almost the 
whole time in poor condition. Indeed, the best 
covered rolls are seldom able to withstand the 
compression required to sustain the weight of 
slivers to be drawn on these railway heads. 
This is seen to the best advantage when we clean 
and set the head in order and put in a complete 
set of new rollers. It at once becomes apparent 
that the machine is working smoother, for the 

90 



irregularities which were caused by the bad 
rolls, and which kept the trumpet bobbing and 
restless all the time, are not there. 

This illustration shows without doubt that the 
leather rolls are the source from which the un- 
even work springs. At the time the railway- 
head was introduced, double carding with light 
sliver was the accepted method, which afforded 
and does still afford, where this system has not 
been thrown out, a much better chance for the 
head to draw well and the " evener " to correct 
with more regularity. We cannot conceive of 
anything more out of line with the progress of 
cotton preparing than to set down a railway- 
head and evener to draw and correct the size of 
eight or even more cards of the improved and 
prolific class designed for single carding, espe- 
cially for the coarser counts. 

It must not be understood, however, that we 
find fault with the new cards, for when compared 
with the old they are in many respects superior, 
if the grinding and setting are attended to with 
intelligence. And here we desire again to say 
that the heavy amount of carding these new ma- 
chines are designed to do, and the high speed at 
which they are driven, make extraordinary care 
and frequent adjusting essential to maintain their 
proficiency. But this is what is wrong with the 
railway-heads. This is the cause of the uneven- 

91 



ness which our carders are complaining about, 
and it is likely to remain until common sense 
again assumes control and the English system 
of carding for coarse numbers is adopted. Let 
every card fill its own can, and make up the doub- 
lings by running the sliver lightly the necessary 
number of times through the drawing frame. 
In this plan there are no heavy ends to draw, 
and therefore no uneven work. 

Imperfections in Drawing. — Imperfec- 
tions in drawing may be somewhat modified 
by soft condensing and spreading the slivers 
well on the rollers. The card slivers should be 
equally distributed on the belt in the railway- 
box, so that they pass through the rolls in a 
thin and even sheet. Thick ridges caused by 
the ends entering the rolls, one upon another, 
raise the rolls unequally and cause cloudy draw- 
ing. Defects such as these, which make the 
work slightly hacked and lumpy, some imagine 
are of little account and will afterwards be leveled 
up by the doublings. This theory will not 
stand the test of experience, for no amount of 
doublings will amend the weak parts. They are 
only lengthened by the drafts to which they are 
subjected. Besides, it is the worst kind of work- 
manship to allow inaccuracies of any description 
that can be prevented to be passed from one 
process to another. Inequalities caused by the 
92 



evener, or rollers of the railway head, or in fact 
by any other rollers from whatever agency, will 
undoubtedly appear in the yarn. In doubling, 
weak places cannot be prevented from coming 
together, and when it is considered to what 
length a half inch at the first drawing process 
will be stretched when it reaches the last twist, 
we can form some idea as to the causes of un- 
even yarn. 

Setting Rollers. — On a fair grade of cot- 
ton from y± to ^ of an inch is a good 
testing distance to set the drawing rollers 
apart, because there is no rule by which to gov- 
ern this but by the rule of experience. Let it be 
understood that the closer we get the front and 
the next roll to it (for in every machine these 
two rolls do all the drafting), the better and more 
uniform will be the work. Still, this may be 
overdone, and the resistance may become so 
great as to cause the top rollers to slip and to be 
the source of considerable mischief. It is the 
slight slips that give the most trouble, because 
they escape observation, and we may be led to 
believe that the rollers are seated at the best dis- 
tance while another sixteenth of an inch would 
remedy everything. This can only be found out 
by trial and experiment. The. rollers will turn 
with more certainty, because the pull is easier, 
when set farther off; yet if they are set farther 

93 



apart than the length of the fibre they will pull 
fine places in the sliver which will be very detri- 
mental to the yarn . The correct principle,therefore, 
is to keep the front and middle rolls as close 
as possible without crimping, and good spinning 
will always be the result. 

Perfect Drawing. — The system of draw- 
ing by degrees on the same machine pro- 
duces cloudy work, and there are reasons for this 
of a very cogent nature. If the volume of cot- 
ton is not properly contracted, condensed and 
adjusted while it is undergoing a series of draw- 
ings on the same head, the more it is drawn the 
more uneven it becomes. The custom is to keep 
the front leather rolls in good condition, while 
those at the back are old and often fluted. Be- 
tween these the less is drawn the better for the 
yarn. Practical experience has demonstrated 
that on any machine operated for the purpose of 
evening and reducing the sliver, there is no place 
where good drawing can be accomplished but 
between the front and middle rolls. A light 
draft on the first head with few doublings is pre- 
ferable to a more numerous quantity which would 
necessitate a heavy draft to keep down the weight. 
When we ascertain the manner by which these 
fine filaments are made parallel by drawing, we 
cannot fail to see that the method of connected 
drawing by degrees on the same head, misses the 

94 



object for which the drawing frame is intended. 
Contracting so as to prevent the edges of the 
slivers from spreading or "feathering" is the true 
principle of preparing cotton on the drawing 
frame. Perfect drawing is a cloudless and 
straightened sliver having a glossy luster, which 
if we do not secure on the finishing head, we 
have not attained the perfection which the ma- 
chine is capable of. 

Extra Doublings not always best. — It is 

understood when additional doublings are put in 
that an extension of the drafts is also made in 
order to counteract the extra weight. The ob- 
ject of these doublings is to mix and even the 
stock better while the drawing renders the fibres 
more parallel, and both of these operations are 
utilized to reduce the sliver to a proper condition 
and size for the spinner. This is the theory, but 
it is often modified to meet circumstances. Al- 
though the draft is not computed by the number 
of doublings, but from the weight of cotton pass- 
ing through the rollers, yet it must always be in 
proportion to the hank sliver being made. There- 
fore, when we add doublings we must regulate 
the drafts accordingly. It is not to be inferred 
from what has been advanced, that all we have to 
do is to compute the doublings and drafts, and set 
the machine to work without considering how it 
is otherwise adapted to the class of stock we are 

95 



called to manipulate. It is at times like these, 
when changes are being made, that the wisdom 
of the carder is exhibited. A class of cotton 
with unequal fibres will not, under the same 
treatment, bring out the same quantity from the 
same weight, as would stock with a uniform staple. 
The carder must also remember that it is an un- 
twisted sliver with which he is contending, and 
that equal doublings, on account of this inequali- 
ty, will not stand equal drafts. As the fibres be- 
come more parallel the short releases itself and 
by repeated drawing, in this case, makes a lumpy 
sliver. So it would be better, before going too 
far, to turn it over to the u slubber/' where a 
closer bite can be given it, and a little twist put 
in, which has been proved to be the best and 
most judicious way of operating on this descrip- 
tion of stock. 

A Drawing-Frame with the Most Ad- 
vantages. — Cotton spinners have for many 
years been working towards the use of drawing- 
frames with a somewhat longer boss on the 
rollers, and the practice of using several bosses, 
separating the slivers at the back and concen- 
trating them immediately in front of the trumpet 
inside the condensing rolls, has been dying out. 
This is desirable on many accounts. With long- 
stapled cotton a roller of larger diameter can be 
used; but with certain mixtures we find a neces- 
96 



sity for more latitude in the adjustment of the 
rollers, which with a smaller diameter and ad- 
justable stands can be readily obtained. This 
cannot be overestimated, and it is a good sign of 
progress to see that some builders are adopting 
to a certain extent this line of practice. 

This make of frame has every facility for accu- 
rate work so arranged that there is no collision 
or multiplicity of parts. It is built so as to be 
run three, four, five or six into one, according to 
the ideas of the spinner. Each one of the roll- 
ers is independently weighted on either end of the 
roll, doing away with the saddle-stirrup and the 
rocking motion of the roll being made greater 
upon one end and less upon the other end of the 
double boss. Back and front stop-motions are 
arranged so that it is impossible for laps or 
break -backs to occur to any extent. The calen- 
der rolls may be plain or grooved. The can 
tables are driven by an upright shaft from the 
bottom of the calender roll, and the same shaft 
also by means of the worm and gear system 
drives a transverse motion at the back. The system 
of weighting adopted is that known asthe direct. 

The gearing has been arranged so as to give 
the best possible results, as well as the greatest 
facility in changing. The difference between 
doubling at the back, where it should be done, 
and doubling with the old system of two bosses 

97 



in front, is simply that fewer edges are put to- 
gether. The draft is upon a single sliver, rather 
than upon two, while the fleece of cotton passing 
and receiving draft between the rolls, is not lia- 
ble to be affected by any deficiencies that may 
exist by means of different diameters in the 
bosses. Some of these little things are worth 
studying, for they make a great deal of difference 
in a machine for drawing cotton. 

The Importance of Can-filling. — The 

filling of the cans is another of those processes 
demanding dexterity. No hand should be 
allowed to press down the drawing except one 
that has been trained to it, because the least 
catch or tangle will cause breakages and stop- 
pages, numerous piecings, poor work and small 
production. The several devices at work for the 
purpose of filling the can show how essential it 
is that the sliver be pressed down in such a way 
that it will not break in the pulling out. It must 
not even be racked or strained in the cans. 
There never were better-filled cans than when 
they were gently pressed down by a slow-work- 
ing plunger. There was no strain then in draw- 
it out. The can revolved very slowly, not more 
than six times a minute, though it is still better 
to have the can go only half-way around and 
back again. Coilers may be run to advantage 
where coarse yarn is made. 
98 



CHAPTER X. 

DRAWING AND TWISTING. 

THE SLUBBER — WEAK POINTS IN THE SLIVER — REMEDIES FOR 
THEM — SLUBBER DRAFT REGULATION AND ROLLER SET- 
TING — THE TENSION OF THE ENDS — TAMPERING WITH 
THE LET OFF — THE USE AND ABUSE OF DOUBLINGS — TRUE 
• ROLLERS TO SPEEDERS — THE COMPOUND MOTION EXPLAINED 
— IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING IT — DUTY PER- 
FORMED BY THE CONES. 

The Slubber. — The slubbing is the next 
process of interest that engages the attention of 
the carder. Here he is compelled to enter upon 
a new experience. With continued extension of 
the fibre, the strength of the sliver is giving out; 
so a machine is brought into operation which 
will reduce it still more and preserve its unifor- 
mity. Hitherto no twist has been necessary, but 
the reducing and equalizing on the drawing 
make it indispensable . that a little shall be put in 
to insure cohesion. In operating a slubber the 
first thing to do (and it requires skill) is to get 
the slivers up out of the drawing-cans without 
racking or attenuating them. This may be ac- 
complished best by setting the cans well in under 

99 



the lifting roller. By so doing we avoid the 
friction incidental to the slanting and rubbing 
against the edges. When we see the slivers 
back of the slubber falling back into the cans, 
and refusing on account of weakness or some 
other cause to continue the process, we may be 
sure there is something the matter that will re- 
quire careful investigation. 

There are a number of things that may be the 
cause of this. The drawing rolls may not be 
properly adjusted. If this is so in the last pro- 
cess, the weak parts will be separated but a short 
distance ; but if they occur further back they 
will be much further apart. This is a practical 
way of locating faults. All the overseer has got 
to do is to give his attention to the distance 
these tender parts are separated, and by looking 
to the drafts to which they have been subjected, 
he may determine where the trouble is. 

Other Reasons for Breaking Down. — 

Still, there are other reasons for this breaking 
down behind the slubber. It frequently happens 
that the drawing is running with an allowance of 
draft between the front and condensing rolls for 
the purpose of keeping the sliver taut. When 
running on heavy work, although some inquiry 
is done, yet through the strength imparted by the 
extra weight the damage may be imperceptible. 
But let us change to a lighter class of work, and 

IOO 



the slivers probably will not bear to be pulled 
up out of the cans. Let us get one tooth (often 
two will be required) more for the condensing 
roll and note what a difference is made. If the 
sliver is strengthened by the change we may 
congratulate ourselves upon having practically 
straightened out a part of the process, which was 
not as it should be. The surfaces of the front 
and condensing rolls should run exactly at the 
same speed. Be it remembered that the stock is 
made as nearly parallel by drawing on the pre- 
ceeding machinery as is prudent, for the sliver 
must have consistency sufficient to sustain its 
own weight. Still, before twist is given, there is 
another draft to be added. Thus it will be 
seen, that care and skill must be used at this ex- 
treme stage to prevent over-drawing. 

We have been persistent in this chapter in 
directing attention to this point, knowing how 
important it is, and how easily too much draft 
may be given to the slubber. 

Slubber Draft Regulation and Roller Set- 
ting. — Experience has demonstrated that the most 
economical machinery on which to draw cotton 
should have but three rollers with just sufficient 
draft between the back and middle to prevent the 
sliver from bagging. The reason for this is that 
the slower the roller which grasps the fibre 
moves the greater the chance the drawing or re- 



volving roller has to make the work uniform. If 
we divide the draft between the front and middle 
and back and middle equally, we must of course 
speed up the middle rolls and these would natur- 
ally lose their retaining tendency and allow the 
cotton to give out in flakes, thus causing uneven 
and consequently weak yarn. The more we 
speed up the centre roller the more certain it is 
to yield the fibre to the pull of the next roll, the 
periphery of which is traveling at a velocity of 
three, four, and often on speeders as high as seven 
to one. Now this slower motion is just as capa- 
ble of receiving the inaccuracies coming to it, 
as would be the velocity coming to it where the 
whole draft is given between the front and mid- 
dle rolls, but let it be understood that the light 
drafts must receive faster and thus produce in- 
ferior work. 

It must also be remembered that no yarn of 
good quality can be produced if we slub with 
wide rolls ; and this is a part of the business of 
carders and spinners that is to our knowledge 
greatly neglected. What is the use of all the 
trouble consequent on the shifting of the rolls 
for one sixteenth of an inch ? says a carder. 
But we know the closing or opening of the rolls 
that distance has often done wonders in making 
the yarn both to spin better and to break 
stronger. 



The Tension of the Ends. — The tension 

of the ends on the speeders should be very 
light, so that the least possible strain can be felt 
when touching them with the finger underneath. 
There should be just sufficient tension to reach 
the flyers without too much hanging. If there 
should be any drag, it will surely twist at the 
rollers. It is common to see the speeder-ends, 
especially those of the slubber, so tight that they 
pull with the strain and make tender places- in 
the roving. Have the twist light and the tension 
easy to produce good drawing on the next ma- 
chine, is good advice. Hard twist may keep the 
ends from breaking, but it draws badly on the 
following frame, and cuts and hollows the leather 
rolls. If there are any tender places arising 
from poor drawing, wide rolls, or uneven feeding 
in of waste on the pickers, the twist running up 
into the bite of the rollers will pinch these most. 
Some of these places occur at irregular intervals 
according to how the doublings acted on them 
in the previous processes. 

Tampering with the Let-off.— The re- 
marks regarding tension stand good for all 
kinds of speeders, whether on coarse or fine 
hank. The retarding or tightening of the let-off 
is another of those small affairs which are pro- 
ductive of consequences of which the operator 
may not be aware, but which often take consid- 
103 



erable ingenuity to trace out. The system of 
" thumbing " the roll is bad enough,but not nearly 
so injurious as that of tightening. Let us take 
a frame on which we find a number of slack ends 
and set the rack to suit them ; what effect has this 
operation on the other and much larger number 
of ends which were running at the proper ten- 
sion? Will these break down? No ; but they 
will pull and tug until they equalize the diameters 
of the bobbins by tighter winding. The loose 
ends to which we refer have been made so by 
neglecting to piece up in time, so that the bobbins 
are somewhat less in diameter. Now, the wind- 
on, having but the same length of delivery, must 
of course strain and tug at the roving to accom- 
modate the greater circumference upon which it 
has to be wound, and this tension affects the 
weaker parts ; for it is well understood that if we 
pull a piece of roving, the tenderest portion will 
stretch. Therefore attenuations formed by pull- 
ing down or tightening the ends are very slender 
and feeble, but not so much so that they will break 
down(except in extreme cases) either on the frame 
or in the creels, because they, so to speak, swallow 
up the twist which strengthens them sufficiently 
for future mischief. 

We are referring to one only of the many 
things in the building of a set of roving which 
will cause weak parts, such as neglected rollers, 
104 



unequal pressures, or a poor cone-belt. But this 
tightening circumstance may and does fre- 
quently happen after the overseer has spent 
hours of his time tempering the machine and put- 
ting it in shape for first class-work. He is there- 
fore off his guard, and in passing, if he finds the 
machine running, he takes no further notice 
of it. 

An Illustration. — In order to illustrate our 
position regarding weak parts on the slub (and 
they are most frequently made here), we will 
assume the draft on the intermediate to be 4.5, 
that of the finishing speeder 7.5, and the draft of 
spinning-frame 8.5, which is a fair ratio of drafts 
to give these machines in ordinary practice. 
Now, by multiplying these drafts together, we 
obtain a product of 267.75, or if we allow for 
contraction by twist, we have 266. A single 
half-inch of a weak piece of roving made on the 
slubber will, therefore, be lengthened on the 
yarn to 266 half-inches. So we see by actual 
demonstration that the tender parts made on the 
roving by tightening, or from any other cause, 
however short these may appear at the machine 
upon which they are made, will under ordinary 
circumstances be an aggravating length when 
they come to be woven, and whether they 
appear in the warps or filling must give poor 
results. 

105 



Doublings, of which there are generally two, 
one on the intermediate and another on the fine 
speeder, help to lessen this degree of weakness 
somewhat, but there are chances remaining that 
two of these slender pieces may come together 
in the process of doubling, a circumstance that 
aggravates the evil. Besides, these same ma- 
chines are subject to the same abuse. The 
frames upon which the remedy is being applied 
are liable to be tightened, too, and the conse- 
quences are of the same nature, although not so 
far drawn out. On account of their closeness to 
the spinning, the weaknesses will be the shorter, 
but none the less hurtful. 

The Use and Abuse of Doublings — 

From what has been observed in describing the 
failings of speeders and those attending them, it 
is not to be inferred that doublings are of no 
value in the preparation of roving. The writer 
has invariably maintained, in the face of opposi- 
tion from practical men, that the factory which 
runs the most doublings produces the best work, 
provided the stock and machinery are equal. 
But doublings are like drafts: they must, to be 
effective, be judiciously applied, and not be the 
cause of weighty drawing on any of the machines 
to which they are put in process. Our idea has 
always been, and no reason has yet appeared 
sufficient to alter it, that if heavy, and therefore 
106 



cloudy and bunchy, drawing is the outcome of 
stuffing in doublings for the purpose of having 
as large a number as possible, a considerable re- 
duction of these would be productive of better 
work and stronger yarn. 

The Importance of True Rolls on Speed- 
ers. — Seeing that we are at present dealing with 
the speeder, our object will be to offer such sug- 
gestions as will not be disappointing to any who 
will take the trouble of putting them to the test. 
One of the first things to do is to look closely 
into the condition of the steel rolls, on which we 
are going to make roving. Put a straight edge 
along the bearings, and prove to your own satis- 
faction that these are perfectly level and that 
the journals will bear equally the whole length 
of the machine. Calliper the rolls in several 
places and satisfy yourself that they are suffi- 
ciently near, so that there will be no possibility 
of one of those troubles after starting which no 
person can account for. If the machine is old, 
see that the joints do not make a quarter turn, 
and that the flutings are not gone or hollowed 
down where they are in constant contact with 
the cotton. The rolls must be sharpened so that 
the edges of the flutes will offer equal resistance 
to the drag, and that there will be no uncertainty 
about the slip or escape of the fibre when brought 
under for the purpose of reducing. 

107 



Observe that there is no wabble to the rolls, 
caused from springing or misplaced joints, be- 
cause that means uneven roving and lots of it. 
If the top rolls are solid be very particular that 
they are of the same diameter. This is often the 
source of much annoyance and irregular work. 
If the front rolls are shells, the diameters will not 
make so much difference, and in this respect 
they are preferable ; but particular care must be 
taken of the spindle as regards cleaning and 
oiling. 

The next and one of the principal things to 
look after is the weighting, and to this in a great 
measure is due the quality of the production. 
The saddles ought to be of a good pattern, and 
the friction reduced to a minimum by keeping 
the dents on them no larger than is serviceable. 
The stirrups must hang in such a way as not to 
rub the steel rolls, for rubbing not only wears the 
stirrup but causes misplacement of gravity ; so 
will also a crooked stirrup, especially those kinds 
which pass through the weight. 

The Compound Motion Explained. — In 

order that the compound motion on the speeder, 
and the methods of calculating it, maybe explained 
and its significance as a movement understood 
and appreciated, let us offer here a few remarks 
concerning it. The first driver is a bevel, keyed 
or set-screwed on the main or twist shaft and 

108 



drives a pair of bevels in the interior of and car- 
ried round by the center-gear. Now, by the 
centre-gear carrying these double intermediates in 
the direction of the driver or fast bevel and in the 
contrary direction of the driven or loose bevel, 
it is evident that double the revolutions are taken 
from the last-mentioned bevel that the centre-gear 
makes. This compounding of fast and loose gears 
is for the purpose of regulating the wind-on of 
the roving in proportion to the increasing diam- 
eter of the bobbin. In the more recent arrange- 
ment of this motion, the centre-gear revolves in 
the same direction as the twist-shaft. The vari- 
ation imparted to the bobbin side, is, therefore, 
two revolutions less than the centre-gear. But 
if the said gear revolves in the opposite direction 
it will gain in the same proportion. Hence the 
take-up is regulated by the centre-gear, and it in 
turn is regulated by the cones. 

As the spindle and the bobbin revolve in the 
same direction, it is evident if both travel at the 
same speed no wind-on can take place, and it is 
also evident that if the bobbin remain stationary 
the wind-on will be equal to the length traversed 
by the flyer. As the twist is given to the roving 
by the spindle gaining a certain number of turns 
on the length delivered, so it is, by the spindle or 
the bobbin gaining on the length traversed by 
the other, that the roving is wound or lapped on, 
109 



hence the difference between the velocity of the 
spindle and that of the bobbin in either the new 
or old arrangement, is the wind-on, and must, at 
every stage, from the empty to the full bobbin, be 
equal to the length delivered from the front rol- 
ler. But as each layer of roving enlarges the 
diameter of the bobbin, a little consideration will 
make it apparent that if the spindle and bobbin 
were to continue at the same velocity at each turn 
of the rail, more length would be required, or in 
other words, the wind-on would soon out-wind 
the length delivered. The effect of this contin- 
ual increase is counteracted by the agency of the 
compound motion set to run in such a way as to 
cause the velocity of the bobbin to approach that 
of the spindle in exact proportion to the increas- 
ing thickness of the bobbin. 

Important Considerations Regarding the 
Compound Motion. — When studying this mo- 
tion at work, or computing problems relative there- 
to, it is necessary to bear in mind that the number 
of revolutions which the loose bevel is augmented 
or retarded is equal to twice the revolutions of 
the centre gear. And it is also very essential to 
know, when called upon to change any gears 
which will vary the speed of the centre-gear, 
that the slower said gear revolves the faster will 
the loose bevel revolve, and vice versa. There- 
fore, to give sufficient action to the compound 

no 



motion, the differential gradient which occurs at 
each turn of the rail must be so tempered by the 
let-off movement, that the bobbin will revolve 
exactly so as to wind on the length delivered 
from the front roll without drag. Of course the 
length delivered from the front roll is somewhat 
modified by the amount roving contracts in the 
twisting, and when exact calculations are requisite 
must be considered. And when two motions 
driven from independent sources, so to speak, are 
worked together for such a delicate operation as 
to wind on without drag or hurtful tension, exact 
computations are indispensable. 

Another Duty Performed by the Cones.— 

Another use of the cones is for reducing the 
speed of the builder and equalizing the coils as 
the bobbin increases in diameter. As the bobbin 
enlarges, the rail must travel proportionately 
slow, and if the proper gears are supplied, this 
duty is performed with great accuracy by the 
cones. The gear that will start the ends loose 
enough on the first row, must be ascertained by 
computations. This is very important, for very 
often there is considerable drag, and consequently 
poor work is found here. The rail should at no 
time travel faster than just enough to allow the 
rovings to wind-on close enough to touch each 
other, because a wide coil-on allows the next 
row to get down into the space between the coils 
hi 



and makes the machine difficult to temper. A 
cone-belt ought to be of the best material and 
have no butts or thick parts. These make the 
ends bob, and often deceive us regarding their 
tightness. 



112 



CHAPTER XL 

DIFFICULTIES PRACTICALLY OVERCOME. 

THE TWIST IN ROVING GOOD RULES — THE BEST METHODS 

OF SIZING SLIVER — SIZING THE FINE DRAWING — PRACTI- 
CAL SUGGESTIONS— HANK-TABLE — INFLUENCE OF TEMPER- 
ATURE ON DRAWING — A CAUSE OF UNEVEN NUMBERS — 
HOW TO TAKE CARE OF THE FRAMES — THE PREVENTION 
OF WASTE — A RECEIPT FOR GOOD ROLLER VARNISH. 

The Twist in Roving. — Twist in roving 
not only affects the spinning as relates to quant- 
ity and quality, but in the card-room, if it is not 
soft enough to draw well on intermediate and 
fine speeders, simular results are experienced, and 
the thoroughly practical carder always knows 
whether the proper twist is on the rove or not, 
by giving his attention to these frames. Theory 
cannot be depended on, in regulating the twist 
on roving. Experience in preparing different 
grades of stock is absolutely necessary in order 
that sound judgment may be used in applying to 
the roving, in every process, the twist that will 
assure the best results. Practical carders are 
well aware that any attempt to twist roving by 
rule is a very perilous operation, and the effects 

113 



of such efforts are often absurd. Different 
causes produce different effects. The cotton 
fibre is liable to variations in several ways, and 
according to these variations, the degree of twist 
on the roving must vary also. Sudden atmos- 
pheric changes which affect the cotton while pass- 
ing through the several machines must be care- 
fully studied, and the suitable twist-gear kept 
ready. The let-off gear is also effective in keep- 
ing the roving good during changes of the 
weather. Still, this does not prevent us from 
starting with the correct rule by which to get 
twist, and afterwards satisfying ourselves as to 
its reliability. Strength enough to pull the bob- 
bin round in the creel without weakening the 
rove in any way, is as good a rule as any. 

The English standard twist per inch for one 
hank roving is 1.20 while the American is xlb 
more, and the rule to find the requisite twist for 
any hank-roving is this : 

RULE FOR TWIST OF ROVING. 

Take the square root of the hank-roving des- 
ired and multiply by the standard twist per inch 
on one hank-roving, which will give you the 
necessary twist per inch. 

ANOTHER RULE. 

A very safe rule by which to calculate the 
twist for roving, and which applies to slubbers 

114 



and intermediates perhaps more than to fine 
speeders, on account of its simplicity, is to take 
the decimal .85 for a standard, and multiply by 
the hank-roving. The product will be the twist 
per inch required for said hank. 

These rules, combined with experience and 
practical common sense, will answer every pur- 
pose for preparing roving for the spinning. They 
must be used only as guides to inform the carder 
that he is pretty near to the right twist, after 
which he must arrange it with reference to the 
requirements of the staple. If the cotton in use 
has a long, strong fibre, it will not need so much 
twisting as cotton with a medium fibre ; while 
cotton with a very short fibre must have more 
twist than the medium. The object is to have 
the roving soft, so that it will draw well in the 
following process, and at the same time strong 
enough to stand the strain which will be given 
to it in the creels. 

In some places the cotton used varies much 
in condition and length of fibre from time to 
time, which is very annoying, and prevents the 
carder from getting his rove forward in the state 
he desires,.especially with the proper twist. The 
reason for this is that the shorter portion runs in 
with the longer and cannot be detected in time to 
make the desired change. 

The best Methods of Sizing. — Every 
115 



card-room must have some positive method 
by which to determine whether the sizes are too 
heavy or too light. If a mill is intended to weave 
40-inch goods to weigh 3^ yards per pound, a 
variation of ten per cent, in this weight makes 
trouble at once with the financial department of 
the concern, because the cloth is too light or too 
heavy ; and the blame generally falls upon the 
carder. Now, when a carder takes one yard of 
sliver from the railway-head or drawing frame, 
but most generally from the former, and weighs 
it to ascertain whether the machine is regulating 
at the standard weight or not, and makes changes 
on the test which must go forward in the differ- 
ent processes until it reaches thread or cloth, he 
is working on a very poor basis. The sizing of 
the sliver ought to lead to a positive result and 
the length measured should, to accomplish this 
with any degree of certainty, be not less than 
twelve yards. But this is somewhat tedious in 
places where the yard is laid off on a board. We 
will, therefore, give a description of a little ar- 
rangement by which the carder is enabled to 
measure the sliver or roving with remarkable ex- 
actitude to any desired length. 

It consists of a pulley, the circumference of 
which is either ^ or y 2 of one yard, with an up- 
per roll, to keep the drawing or roving in con- 
tact with the measuring surface. The index-gear 
116 



is subdivided," one circle being revolutions, and 
the other yards. Some of these little machines 
have an attachment outside of the large pulley, 
by which the number of twists per inch in the 
roving can be readily shown. This is a very 
complete and necessary appliance for the card- 
room and together with an accurate instrument 
to weigh on, forms an apparatus that is efficient 
for measuring and weighing, and from which 
good results will be obtained. 

In the cotton mills in England much more 
consideration is given to the methods for keeping 
the numbers correct, than we find at home. When 
the writer worked therein 1856, there was a little 
machine used for sizing roving, the like of which 
he has not seen since. It was very artistically 
made with beam and scales directly in front of 
the pulley. When the bobbins were set on the 
creel, the ends, after passing over the pulley, 
were delivered into the scale and the operation 
of turning continued until the beam was exactly 
balanced. The size was taken. There was noth- 
ing more to do but to look at the indexes, which 
were on two gears, one of which contained 99 
teeth and the other 100, and both pitched into 
the same worm. The 99 gear indexed the 
hanks and the 100 teeth gear the decimal 
parts of one hank. This was at that time 
considered a very ingenious and perfect sizing 

117 



apparatus, and no doubt is in operation in many 
places yet. 

Sizing the Fine Drawing. — In fine factories 
where the carder must be still more careful with 
the numbers, an excellent plan is to size the fine 
drawing head at least three times a day. For 
this purpose there are many devices which will 
measure with great accuracy 30 yards of sliver. 
The same plan ought to be extended to all the 
mills; it would be of great advantage and would 
pay well for the trouble. 

Practical Suggestions. — There is really no 
better way by which to keep correct sizes, than 
with a machine like one of those described, 
which will measure with certainty 30 yards. Size 
the roving frequently, that is to say slubber, inter- 
mediate and finishing, of each section ; for all the 
room may not be running on the same hank. 
Some prepare two or three, and even more, differ- 
ent sizes of roving in the one room. When we 
say each section, we mean the slubbing, intermed- 
iate and finishing, of every system on which dif- 
ferent hank-roving is being made. The carder can 
mark off on his roving table, the hank, or weight 
in grains, the 30 yards from each of the frames 
ought to weigh, and note the correct weights 
each time regularly down. These will tell at all 
times the variations and will be of great benefit 
for reference. 

118 



Besides, there is nothing easier to calculate 
the hank by than 30 yards. Multiply 30 by 8 j£, 
which equals 250 which being divided by the 
weight in grains, the quotient is the hank. Surely 
this is simple enough; 250 always the "standard" 
number to be divided by the weight in grains. 
The utility of such a method of keeping num- 
bers in our climate will be seen at a glance. It en- 
ables the carder to put on or take a tooth off of any 
the machines and thereby to prevent irregularities 
from getting to the spinning. If this system were 
thoroughly carried out, there would not be one- 
tenth of the poor spinning there is, because we 
depend too much on the automatic evener of the 
railway head. And all of us know that it does 
not or never was guaranteed to keep numbers 
even. We append a hank-table for 30 yards of 
roving : 

HANKS FOR THIRTY YARDS. 





(A 

.s 




in 

C 




.s 




J 


in 


'53 


co 


"rt 


en 


"c3 


w 


c5 


O 


u 





i-i 


O 


u 





u 


£ 


O 


z 


O 


fc 





S3 





.1 


2500. 


2.5 


IOO. 


4-9 


51.02 


7-3 


34.25 


.2 


1250. 


2.6 


96.15 


5- 


50. 


7-4 


33-79 


•3 


833-3 


2.7 


92.06 


5-i 


49.02 


7-5 


33-33 


•4 


625. 


2.8 


89.29 


5-2 


48.08 


7.6 


32.90 


•5 


500. 


2.9 


86.21 


5-3 


47.17 


7-7 


32.47 


.6 


416.6 


3- 


83-33 


5-4 


46.3 


7-8 


32.05 


.7 


357-14 


3-i 


80.65 


5-5 


45.45 


7-9 


31.67 


.8 


312.5 


3-2 


78.12 


5-6 


44.64 


8. 


31.25 



119 





HANKS 


FOR THIRTY YARDS. 


— Continued. 






c/5 




<A 




XT. 




wj 




.£ 




g 




c 




.5 


w5 
o 


'c3 


u5 




"cd 


c/5 

O 


2 


i 


"t3 


£ 





3-3 





5.7 


O 
43-86 


z 





•9 


277.7 


75.82 


8.2 


30.49 


i. 


250. 


3-4 


73-53 


5.8 


43.10 


8.3 


30.12 


i.i 


227.27 


3-5 


71.43 


5.9 


42.37 


8.4 


29.76 


1.2 


208.3' 


3-6 


69.44 


6. 


41.66' 


8.5 


29.40 


1-3 


192.3 


3-7 


67.57 


6.1 


40.98 


8.6 


29.07 


1.4 


178.57 


1 3-8 


65.8 


6.2 


40.32 


8.8 


28.40 


i-5 


166.6' 


3-9 


64.10 


6-3 


39-70 


8.9 


28.09 


1.6 


156.25 


4- 


62.5 


6.4 


39.06 


9- 


27.77 


1-7 


147. 


4.1 


60.97 


6-5 


38.46 


9.2 


27.17 


1.8 


138.9 


4.2 


59.52 


6.6 


37.88 


9-4 


26.59 


i-9 


131.58 


4-3 


58.15 


6.7 


37.31 


9-5 


26.31 


2. 


125. 


44 


56.81 


6.8 


36.76 


9-6 


26.04 


2.1 


119.05 


4-5 


55-55 


6.9 


36.23 


9-7 


2577 


2.2 


113.63 


4.6 


54-35 


7- 


35-72 


9.8 


25-51 


2.3 


108.7 


4-7 


53-19 


7.1 


36.21 


9-9 


25.25 


2.4 


104. 16 


4-8 


52.08 


7.2 


34-72 


10. 


25- 



The Influence of Temperature on Draw- 
ing. — Tests and experiments carefully taken 
with a desire to ascertain the cause or causes of 
the work at one time grading light and at an- 
other heavy and strong, have shown some im- 
portant results in regard to the effect the various 
conditions of humidity and temperature have 
upon the sliver. In our climate atmospheric 
changes are frequent. The influence of these is 
often felt, and causes a little variation betimes ; 
yet by the use of atomizers and other artificial 
means, now well developed, we can control the 
atmosphere within the rooms so as partially to 



120 



overcome the excess of moisture on the one hand 
and the action of electricity on the other. In 
England or Scotland may be seen how well the 
work runs, surrounded by an atmosphere pecu- 
liarly adapted for spinning ; yet in those factories 
where the laws of nature are more potent than 
atomizers, there are spells of good and bad spin- 
ning, and sometimes very uneven numbers. 

One of these tests was made with Middling 
New Orleans Cotton. It was a very damp, 
warm day, with 85 per cent, of moisture — just 
the kind of weather when cotton draws hard, 
because the fibres adhere more closely and the 
drawing between the rolls is not so regular as it 
ought to be. With a good magnifying glass we 
could easily discern that the drawing was not 
uniform, and although the rollers were in good 
form, and set, the fleece was cloudy. From this 
we were convinced there was too much moisture 
in the room, and that the cotton was absorbing 
more than was necessary for good work. The 
heat, combined with the excessive moisture, 
made one think that a fan, with some kind of an 
atomizer, would do much good. 

On another occasion, when the air contained 
but 58 per cent, of moisture, and the electricity 
as severe in its action upon the cotton, the fibres 
were found standing off from the bulk of the 
sliver. This kind of temperature is probably the 
121 



worst of any with which the carder has to con- 
tend. Air containing an excess of moisture ex- 
tends over but a few weeks, while the difficulties 
attending the dry electric atmosphere are very 
extended. Now, what practical means should 
carders have at hand to prevent the numbers 
fjrom altering through these atmospheric changes ? 
In the first place, they ought to know the condi- 
tion of the atmosphere, both dry and wet. To 
find this out, they must have wet and dry bulb 
thermometers, and note them faithfully. These 
ought to be hung in the centre of the room, 
open to atmospheric changes. By the use of 
these instruments the carder will get acquainted 
with the best temperature for keeping numbers, 
so that the hank roving, counts spun and weight 
of cloth will always approximate very close to 
the standard. Without this aid, no carder can 
tell the variations of the atmosphere, unless these 
are extreme. The practical rule is, if the weather 
is at an even temperature, say of 75, with a rela- 
tive humidity of 60 to 65, these are the best 
conditions for making good work in the card- 
room. Keep the work to the standard on the 
railway head. But when you find you are sur- 
rounded with an atmosphere exceedingly dry, 
with between 35 and 40 relative humidity, keep 
the work at the railway head a grain or two 
heavy. And when a damp spell comes on and 



the humidity runs up, you will be safe in letting 
the weight at the railway head run a grain or 
two under the standard. Cotton acted on by 
the electricity will not close together, and 
consequently will cause more friction in the 
trumpet, so that less fibre will pass through ; 
and if kept to the standard weight will shade 
light, while on a damp day the fibre lies closer 
together and passes through the regulator with 
less friction, and permits a gain in the weight. 

Another cause of Uneven Numbers.— The 
unsteadiness of the numbers is a subject which 
embraces the whole science of cotton spin- 
ning, and is a matter of such importance to 
all concerned, that no effort should be spared to 
maintain uniformity of weight and strength in 
the yarn. There are more disturbing elements 
by which the numbers are varied than those of 
temperature. In practice, the greatest unevenness 
has invariably been found when new cotton is 
being brought forward. It takes a number of 
days to get the new stock in and clear out the 
old, and until such time the carder is in a dilemma 
and can do nothing more than guess to which 
side the new stock will incline. The length of 
time he remains in this state of uncertainty de- 
pends upon how much of the cotton is stored by 
in laps, cans, or on bobbins. Of course, if he is 
methodical he will get rid of all he can, and arrive 
123 



at a definite conclusion as soon as possible. But 
this is not all. The rollers may be required to 
be adjusted to the new staple, and in the mean- 
time some of it has got mixed in with the old, 
and the rollers cannot be touched, nor indeed 
can the truth be discovered, until the old is all 
out. This will be about the time it begins to 
tell in the spinning, and if it does not chance to 
come right, the work is bad, the roving is cut, 
the numbers are uneven, and in fact everything 
is in a disturbed state, until the rollers, are got 
right, the sizes steadied down, and the spinning 
creels filled anew. 

How to take Care of the Frames. — To work 
to the best advantage is the duty of every carder. 
In order to do this he must have his frames 
leveled up every time they require it. No over- 
seer who works around a speeder can fail soon 
to discover whether it is off the level or not. The 
frames should be thoroughly cleaned, and the 
steel rollers scoured, the joints disconnected and 
lubricated, and the stands adjusted once a quarter. 
When the rolls are dried well and put back in 
place a little piece of tallow should be put on 
each bearing. It ought to be seen to, at this 
time that the cap-bars, especially these in which 
the front roller stand, are not worn so that the 
covered rollers will not stand parallel with the 
flutes on the steel rolls. The covered rollers ought 
124 



to be all tried, to make sure that the leather is 
tight on them. The traverse-guide should be 
tested with the hand, while the rollers are out, to 
make sure that it travels far enough. The rails 
ought to be cleaned and tallowed as often as the 
rolls, and the spindle and bobbin-gears examined 
to see that they are properly pitched. The steps 
should be oiled once a week. The compound mo- 
tion is so sensitive that it must be kept running free, 
because its regularity secures a more even drag 
on the roving, and produces more quantity and a 
better quality. 

Look out for undue friction on the rail slides, 
and ballance weight pulleys. Be careful that the 
rack is well oiled and runs easy. Make your 
bobbins as large as you can, and see that the 
builder is not running too wide, and leaving, a 
space between the winds on the bobbin. In this 
case your frame will be hard to temper, and you 
will not get so much on the bobbin. There is so 
much time spent in doffing that it pays to look 
after the small things. 

To train the help against waste.— The carder 
is responsible for the establishing of a fixed sys- 
tem' of procedure, the carrying out of which will 
ensure the greatest chance to produce the most 
and the best, with the least possible waste. In 
the best regulated rooms so much pains are 
taken in instructing the help that very lit- 

125 



tie of the work is allowed to go back in waste. 
This is simply and easily accomplished by the 
practical carder who devotes his attention princi- 
pally to one thing until he is satisfied that his 
labor is sufficiently appreciated, and the reason 
made apparent to the worker. He must not be 
discouraged at the result of the first effort to 
economize, but must persevere, fully realizing the 
difficulties to be surmounted. He must make his 
help interested by reasoning with and illustrating 
to them the necessity of entering into any project 
by which real good can be done and through 
which their services shall be the more appreci- 
ated. Carders must, to be successful, train their 
help well concerning the making of waste. This 
should be kept down by every means. There 
are several sorts of waste in the preparation de- 
partment which can, and ought to be avoided, 
and that object is materially assisted by the use 
of a good varnish. 

A receipt for a good Roller Varnish. — 6 ozs. 
of cooper's gelatine, I oz. of common glue, I oz- 
gum arabic, 4 ozs. alcohol, 1 quart water. Soak the 
glue and gelatine separately in vinegar over night 
and gum arabic in water : boil 20 minutes, then 
add 6 ozs. of vermilion dry. When cold it will 
be about the consistency of cheese. When wanted 
for use, heat to 1 50 degrees, spread on with a brush. 
The rolls are ready for use in one hour. 
126 



CHAPTER XII. 

CARD-ROOM CALCULATIONS. 

TO FIND THE DRAFT OF ANY MACHINE — DRAG BETWEEN 
DOFFER AND CALENDER ROLLS — DRAFT OF RAILWAY 
HEAD — OTHER MISCELLANEOUS RULES FOR MAKING CALCU- 
LATIONS. 

To Find the Draft of any Machine.— 

Multiply the revolutions per minute of the back 
roller by its diameter for a divisor, and for a 
dividend multiply the revolutions, per minute, of 
the front roller by its diameter. 

EXAMPLE I. 

The feed rollers of a card which is I y& inches 
in diameter makes 2^ revolutions per minute, 
and the delivering roller, which is 2j^ inches in 
diameter, makes 61 revolutions per minute; re- 
quired the drafts of the card. 

25.0X61 . 

— J — =60.24. 

2.25x1.125 

EXAMPLE 2. 

The feed rollers of a card which is 2}4 inches 
in diameter and makes 2.85 revolutions per min- 
127 



ute, and the dofifer 30 inches in diameter 12.35 
revolutions, what is the draft from feed to doffer ? 



30x12.35 _ 



2.50x2.85 

Another Rule. — Count the number of 
turns of the front roller for one of the back, this 
multiplied by the diameter of the front roller and 
divided by the diameter of the back will give the 
drafts as before. 

EXAMPLE. 

The turns of the front rollers for one of the 
back are 6]/ 2i the diameter of the front roller is 
\]/% and the diameter of the back ^, required the 
draft. 

9X6.50 =8 6 . 
7 

In taking the Draft of a Carding Engine 
call the Feed-Roller Gear the First Driver. 

— Multipy all the drivers and the diameter 
of the feed roller together for a divisor, and 
all the drivers and diameter of the doffer or de- 
livering roller for a dividend ; the quotient will 
be the draft. 

EXAMPLE. 

The feed roller gear of a roller-card contains 
1 20 teeth and drives a pinion of 2 1 teeth on end 
of extension shaft, on the other end of which 
128 



there is a 40 gear driving a 30 pinion on end of 
doffer, the diameter of the feed roller is 2 inches, 
and that of doffer 23 inches. It is required to 
find the draft of this engine doffer. 

120x40x23 ^ 

2IX3QX 2 
On this card there is a draw box, the back roller 
of which is ^ in diameter , and the front roller jyt in 
diameter. The back roller pinion of 26 teeth is 
driven by a 32 and the first roller pinion of 21 
teeth driven by a 26. What is the total draft 

120x40X23X26x36x14 ^ g 

2IX30X 2x32x21x12 

EXAMPLE 2. 

A front feed card feed rol- 
ler gear has 73 teeth 1 

Stud bevel s^ear KO " . . 

c-j 1 ni 1 cc > drivers, 

bide shaft bevel gear 35 

Gear on doffer pulley 26 " I 

Diameter of calender roll 3^ inches 

Gear on calender roll 24 teeth 

Bevel gear on doffer pully 37 " 

Side shaft bevel gear 12 " 

Stud gear 1 1 

Diameter of feed roll 1 Vk inches 



drivers. 



J 



73X50X35X26X3^ g 

24X37X12X11X1^ /9 ' b " 



129 



EXAMPLE 3. 

Common back feed card first driver 138 

Driving a pinion 13 

" " " second driver 67 

Driving a pinion 16 

" third driver 27 

Driving a pinion 30 

" fourth driver 18 

Driving a pinion 37 

Diameter of condensing role 3^ 

' of feeding role 1 %& 

138x67x27X18x31. 



i3Xi6x30X37Xn' 



54.81. 



To Change the Carding from one Weight 
to Another. — If less weight is required 
say, as the greater weight is to the lesser 
so is the present gear to the required gear, 
but if more weight be required say, as the lesser 
weight is to the greater so is the present gear to 
the required gear. 

EXAMPLE. 

What feed pinion will be required to change 
the weight of the carding from 60 grains per yard 
to 48 grains, the present feed pinion bung having 
1 5 teeth ? 

As 60 : 48 : : 15 : 12 the pinion required. Sup- 
pose that you want to change from 48 grains of 

130 



the yard to 60 grains say : As 48 : 60 : : 1 2 : 1 5 the 
change gear required. This rule is applicable to 
drafts in the same manner. 

To Prove Whether there is any Drag 
between the Doffer and the Calender Rolls. 

—Multiply the calender roll gear by the diameter 
of the doffer for a divisor, and for a dividend find 
the product of the doffer gear and the diameter 
of the calender roll. Whatever is more than one 
in the quotient will be the drag. 

EXAMPLE. 

The doffer gear is 128 and the diameter of the 
calender roll 3^ and the calendar roll gear is 32 
and diameter of doffer 1 3^$ to find the drag. 

128X 27 2 , 

—-——l=1.002 ths the drag. 

32x107 1000 s 

To find the take up between the back 
roller of a railway head and the surface 
speed of the traveling railway belt.— Find 

the product of the revolutions per minute of the 
driving shaft, the diameter of driving pulleys and 
the teeth in driving gears, and divide by the pro- 
duct of the diameter of driven pulleys, and teeth 
in driven gears for a divisor. 

Then find the product of the revolutions of 
driving shaft and the number of teeth in driving 
gears, and diameter of drum and belt. And 

131 



divide by the product of the number of teeth in 
the driven gears for a dividend and the quotient 
will be the take-up minus one. 

EXAMPLE. 

Speed of pulley shaft 1 80 per minute on which 
is first driven 17 teeth driving 43. Second driver 
18 driving 50. Third driver 21 driving 59. Di- 
ameter of drum and belt 6}i inches. 
180x17x18x21x6^ ^ inches, speed of railway 
43X50X59 55 - 85 belt. 

Speed of pulley shaft 180, first driver is 55^ 
inches in diameter driving another pulley 6^{ 
inches in diameter and on end of short shaft 
is second driver 24 teeth driving a 72 on end of 
back roller the diameter of which is I }& inches. 

i8QX575X24Xi.375 =6 d of back rolL 

72x6.25 y 

— '-^= T n< TT S is therefore the take-up. 

55.85 i,il 100 

Fluted roller gear, 25; condensing roller gear, 
43; diameter of fluted roller, 1 y 2 inches ; diame- 
ter of condensing roller, 2^ inches, what is the 
drag or take-up ? 

41><L5° =I . 0l6 take . up J^ th5 . 

25X2.50 IOOO 

To find the draft of the railway head at 
any part of the cones. — Find the product of 
132 



the revolutions per minute of the driving cone 
shaft, the diameter of the driving cone, and the 
driving gear of the front speed, and divide by 
the product of the diameter of the driven cone 
and the driven gears of the front speed for a div- 
idend. Then find the product of the revolutions 
per minute of the driving shaft, the diameter of 
the driving pulley, and the driving gears of the 
back speed. Divide by the diameter of the 
driven pulley and the driven gears for a divisor. 
Then multiply the quotient of the back speed 
by the diameter of the back roll for a divisor, 
and the quotient of the front speed by the diam- 
eter of the front roller for a dividend. 

EXAMPLE. 

The revolutions per minute of the cone shaft 
1 80, diameter of driving cone 7 inches, diameter of 
driven cone 7 inches, driving gear on driven cone 
shaft 28 teeth, and driven gear on front roller 24. 

X7X — =2.10. speed of front roll. 

7X24 

The revolutions per minute of shaft 180, diam- 
eter of driving pulley for back speed 5.75, diam- 
eter of driven pulley 6.25, driving gear 24, and 
driven gear 72. 

180X5.75X24 d Qf back rolL 

6.25x72 

i33 



2IOX I yk* draft of railway head to front roll, 

t—T- -=4.65, when the belt is at a 7-inch part of 

55.2XI^t the cone. 

To find the draft of drawing, beginning 
at front roll. — The product of the drivens and 
the diameter of the front roller divided by 
the product of the drivers, and the diameter of 
the back roller will give the draft. 

EXAMPLE. 

Front roller pinion 20 driving first stud gear 
48, on the hub of which is a pinion 36, driving 
second stud or crown gear 60, on the hub of 
which is the change pinion 34 driving back rol- 
ler 40, the front roller 1 y% inches in diameter and 
and the back roll I inch, to find the draft : 

z — — 5~— 6-47> draft. 

To find the speed the back roll ought 
to run to take up what the front roll 

produces. — Multiply the speed of the front 
roll by its diameter by the time it works per day, 
and by the number of ends delivering at the same 
time, and divide by the number of ends up at the 
back of the next machine supplied by these de- 
liveries, the time the machine works per day, and 
the diameter of the back roll. 

* Diameter of front roll. 
t Diameter of back roll. 

134 



EXAMPLE. 

At what speed must the back roller of a slub- 
ber revolve per minute, its diameter being ]/% of 
an inch, and the number of ends up 80, so as to 
uptake what is delivered from the drawing, the 
condensing roller of which revolves 220 times 
per minute and the diameter 2% inches, the 
stoppages on both machines being equal, and the 
number of ends delivering at drawing 2. 

220x2^2X2 

a /^ =20.95 turns. 

6o X # * 

To find the draft of a combing machine. 

— Note. The index wheel and the cam shaft go 
at one speed. The index wheel is on the cylin- 
der shaft and driving the feed is with a pin on this 
shaft. The pinion on end of cam-shaft drives the 
delivery. The ratchet gear which drives the de- 
taching shaft and front roller is also driven by 
the cam-shaft one turn of which makes one teeth 
of rachet. 

The product of the turns of the detaching 
roller, for one of the ratchet gear and its diameter 
divided by the product of the turns of the feed- 
ing roller; for one of the ratchet gear and its di- 
ameter will be the draft. 

EXAMPLE. 

In a combing machine the ratchet gear has 
20 teeth and the wheel on end of ratchet shaft 
i35 



138, pinion on detaching or front roller 18, and 
the diameter of said roller 7/q of an inch. 

Notched gear driven by feed pin 5 teeth pinion 
on end of notched gear shaft driving feed roller 
19, gear on feeding roller 38, diameter of feeding 
roller y^ of an inch. Required the draft. 

138 7 4XIQ 3 966 228 . r 

^8 X 8-^><4=i44^^ =4 ' 47 draft 



The following rules are from a book by 
Joseph Cheatham. 

To find a twist wheel for a roving 
frame in changing from one number of 
hank to another. — Take the square root of 
the hanks roving required for a divisor, and for a 
dividend multiply the square root of the hanks 
roving you are making by the twist-wheel you 
have on. 

example. 

If a roving-frame is making a 2 J^ -hank roving 
with a 36 twist-wheel, what would a 5 -hank re- 
quire? 

2,23 : 1,58 : : 36 : 25 twist-wheel required. 

To find a rack-wheel for a slubbing or 
roving frame in changing from one hank to 
another. — Take the square root of the hanks 
roving or slubbing you are making for a divisor, 
and for a dividend multiply the square root of 

136 



the hanks roving or slubbing required by the 
rack-wheel you have on. 

EXAMPLE. 

Suppose in making a i^-hank slubbing or 
roving with a 22-rack wheel, what would a 2^ 
hank require ? 

1,22 : 1,50 : : 22 : 27 rack-wheel required. 

To find a change-wheel in changing 
from one hank roving to another. — Take 
the hanks roving required for a divisor, and for 
a dividend multiply the hanks roving you are 
making by the change-wheel you have on. 

EXAMPLE. 

Suppose a frame making a 3 hank roving with 
a 38 change-wheel, what wheel would you re- 
quire to make a 5^-hank roving? 

5,5 : 38 : : 3 : 20 change-wheel required. 

To find a change-wheel to give a re- 
quired hank slubbing from a given hank 
drawing. — Multiply the front-roller pinion, hank 
slubbing required, and diameter of back roller 
together for a divisor, then multiply the carrier- 
wheel, back-roller wheel, hanks drawing, and 
diameter of front roller together for a dividend. 

EXAMPLE. 

If the front-roller pinion of a slubbing frame 
contains 18 teeth, carrier wheel 72, back roller 

i37 



wheel 44, hanks drawing J^ hank, diameter of 
front roller I inch or fths, back roller ^ths, re- 
quired a change pinion to produce a i^-hank 
slubbing. 



18 : 72 

i>5 44 

90 288 

18 288 



27,9 

7 


3168 
8 


189,0 


25344 
,25 




126720 
50688 



189,0)63360,0(33 pinion required. 

Note. — If there are two ends put up at back 
of the slubbing frame multiply the divisior by 2. 

To draw a required hanks roving from a given 
hanks slubbing is found in exactly the same 
manner. 

To find a change-wheel for a roving 
frame in changing from one hank roving 
to another when the hank slubbing is 
altered. — Multiply the hanks slubbing to be 

138 



altered from by the hanks roving required for a 
divisor, and for a dividend multiply the hanks 
roving to be altered from by the hanks slubbing 
you are going to work, and that product by the 



change-wheel. 



EXAMPLE. 



Suppose a roving frame was making a 2-hank 
roving with a 33 pinion, and a j(-hank slub- 
bing, what pinion would be required to produce 
a 3-hank roving from a J^-hank slubbing ? 

,25 : ,50 : 33 
3 : 2 



75 100 

33 

300 
300 



75)3300(44 pinion required. 

Note. — The same rule also applies to a slub- 
bing frame. 

To find the hanks roving when the slub- 
bing is altered. — Take the slubbing you are 
working for a divisor, and for a dividend multiply 
the slubbing you are going to work by the rov- 
ing you are making. 



139 



EXAMPLE. 

Suppose a i^-hank stubbing produce a 2-hank 
roving, what will a ^-hank slubbing produce ? 

,25 : ,75 : : 2 : 6 hanks roving. 

To find the hanks slubbing when the rov- 
ing is altered. — Take the hanks roving you are 
making for a divisor, and for a dividend multiply 
the roving required by the hanks slubbing you 
are working. 

EXAMPLE. 

Suppose a ^-hank slubbing produce a 2-hank 
roving, what hank slubbing will be required to 
produce a 6-hank roving? 

2 : ,25 : : 6 : ,75 or ^ -hanks slubbing. 

To find the draft of slubbing or rov- 
ing frames. — Multiply the front-roller pinion, 
change pinion, and diameter of back-roller to- 
gether for a divisor, and for a dividend multiply 
the carrier-Avheel, back-roller wheel and diameter 
of front roller together. Reduce the diameter 
to 8th s of an inch. 

EXAMPLE. 

Suppose the diameter of back roller be 1^ 
inch, front roller i}( inch, front pinion 22 teeth, 
change pinion 26 teeth, carrier wheel 78 teeth, 
back-roller wheel 36 teeth, required the draft. 
140 



26 


78 


22 


36 


52 


468 


52 


234 


572 


28o8 


9 


IO 



5148 )28o8o(5,45 draft 

RULE 2. 

The hanks roving you are making divided by 
the hanks slubbing you are working will give 
you the draft. 

EXAMPLE. 

Suppose the slubbing was J^-hank, the roving 
3 -hank, required the draft. 

,50)3,00(6 draft. 

The draft and hank slubbing given, to 
find the hanks roving, 

RULE. 

The hank slubbing multiplied by the draft 
will give you the hank roving you are making. 

EXAMPLE. 

Suppose a frame had a ^-hank slubbing put 
up at the back, and a 6 of a draft, what would be 
the hanks roving ? 

141 



>5o 
6 

3,00 hank roving. 



Note. — If 2 ends put up at the back, divide 
the quotient by 2. 

To find the hanks slubbing. — The hanks 
roving you are working divided by the draft will 
give the hanks slubbing. 

EXAMPLE. 

Suppose the draft was 6, the hanks roving 3, 
required the hanks slubbing you are working. 
6)3,oo(,50 or y 2 hank slubbing. 

To find the length of yarn delivered 
from the rollers of a slubbing or roving 
frame in a given time. — Multiply the number 
of revolutions by the circumference of front roller. 

EXAMPLE. 

If the front roller of a frame makes 70 revo- 
lutions per minute, required the length of yarn 
delivered, supposing the roller is 1 inch diameter. 

3,i4i6 
70 



219,9120 or nearly 220 inches. 



THE END. 

142 



The Fettee 
Machine Works 

NEWTON UPPER FALLS, MASS, 




ARE THE ONLY BUILDERS OF THE 



Devolving Flat Gaming Engl 




IN AMERICA, (PLATT PATTERN WITH RECENT IMPROVEMENTS). 

Also, COMBINATION CARDS, ETC, 

SEND FOR CIRCULARS. 



C, W. LASELL, Prest. 6. M. WHITIN, Treas. H. ELLIS, Supt. G. E. TAFT, Agent, 



THE 



Whitin Machine Works 



MANUFACTURERS OF 



COTTON MACHINERY, 



Openers, Lappers, 
Cards (Full Roller, Combination, Arlington, Wellman, 

Whitin Strippers), 

Railway Heads, Drawing, Ring Spinning, Spoolers, 

Wet and Dry Twisters, 

Reels, Warpers, Dressers, Looms, Etc. 

WHITINSVILLE, WORCESTER CO., MASS. 



SKUD TffXTER-FDWER 

Machine Shdf, 

BIDDEFORD, MAINE, 



MANUFACTURERS OF 



COTTON MACHINERY 

OF THE MOST IMPROVED PATTERNS. 

CARDS, 

RAILWAY HEADS, 

DRAWING FRAMES, 
ENGLISH SLUBBERS AND FLY FRAMES, 
RING SPINNING FRAMES, 

TWISTERS, 
SELF-ACTING MULES. 



S. f . RICHARDSON, Treasurer, 

iil 

JAS. H. McMULLAN, Ag 



J 

No. 1 Simmons Building, Boston. 



Biddeford, Maine. 



STEDMAN & FULLER MF6. GO., 

PROVIDENCE, R. I., U. S. A. 



MANUFACTURERS OF 



CARD CLOTHING 

OF EVERY VARIETY, 

Made of Leather, 6-ply Cotton, Woolen Cloth 
or Vulcanized Rubber, 

Tempered Steel or Common Wire. 



N. B. — Tempered Steel Wire Cards Ground 
if required. 



PHILADELPHIA OFFICE: 

236 Chestnut St. WESTERN AGENTS: 

R. HENRY, Agt. Messrs. R. R. STREET &, CO., 

188 and 190 Washington St. 
CHICAGO. 



A GRAND SUCCESS. 

HOWARD & BULLOIJGH'S 

PATENT 

REVOLVING FLAT CARD. 




ITS SIMPLICITY, ACCURACY AND SUPERIORITY 

ARE 

UNEQUALLED EITHER IN THEORY OR IN PRACTICE. 

THE PERFECT CONCENTRICITY OF FLATS TO 

THE CYLINDER CANNOT BE DESTROYED. 

AN ORDINARY WORKMAN CAN BE ENTRUSTED WITH 

THE ADJUSTING ARRANGEMENT. 

Electric Stop-Motion Drawing Frames. 

SLUBBING, INTERMEDIATE, ROVING AND FINE JACK 
FRAMES, WARPERS, AND SLASHERS, Etc., Etc. 



Boston, Dlass. 
SOLE IMPORTERS. 



ATHERTOM MACHINE CO., 

SOLE SUCCESSORS TO THE 

Whitehead & Atherton Machine Company. 

PATENT COTTON MACHINERY 

Works at Atherton Station on B. & M. R. R. 

Telegraph and P. O. Address, Lowell, Mass. 

A. A. COBURN, Pbes't. ALFRED CLARKE, Sup't. 

LO"WELL, MASS. 



COTTON OPENERS and LAPPERS, 

Pat. Perforated Hollow Steel Shaft Hipper Openers, 

The most perfect Opener for Bale and Colored Cotton, 
in connection with 

PAT. CLEANING TRUNK. 

Compact, Simple and Effective. No Overhead Condensers, Gage 
Boxes or other complications. The largest and most successful Mills 
in the country have our Cleaning Trunk in operation. 

PAT. STEEL RIBBON EVENER, 

The most Sensitive aud Accurate in use. 

CARDS, RAILWAY HEADS, 

DRAWING FRAMES, CARD GRINDERS, 

CLOTH INSPECTORS. 



PLANS AND ESTIMATES. 



Cotton Openers, 
Cotton Lappers, 

THREAD EXTRACTORS 



—AND- 



Waste Working Machinery. 

WOOL WASHERS 
# DRYERS. 

Shoddy Pickers. 

Kitson Machine Co., 

LOWELL^ MASS. 



Uniform with this Hand-Book. 

THREE TeWlThAND-BOOKS. 

1 — Practice in Wool-Carding, By Joseph Brown. 

2— Practice in Finishing Woolens and Worsteds, 

By Fred. H. Greene. 

3 — Practice in Weaving and Loom-Fixing, 

By D. B. Nightingale. 

Nos. 1 8? %> Price, 50 cents each. 
No. S, 75 cents— the three for $1.50. 
By Mail to any Address. 



PRACTICE IN WOOL-CARDING 

Is the work of a carder of 40 years' experience and is full of practical 
instructions as to how to overcome difficulties. Over 2300 copies have 
already been sold. 

PRACTICE IN FINISHING 

Is a complete, carefully written and accurate explanation of the best 
methods of finishing woolens and worsteds. We already have orders 
for nearly 2800 of these books. 

PRACTICE IN WEAVING AND LOOM-FIXING 

Is a manual for the use of the weaver and loom-fixer in a woolen or 
worsted mill. It is the very best book for practical men ever written. 
No difficulty can be encountered by a loom fixer in a woolen or worsted 
mill which is not solved in this handy little book. It has already had 
a wide sale. 

The volumes are small enough to go in the pocket. The prices of 
technical textile books are usually very high. These have been issued 
for the uses of workingmen, and the prices put at very low figures. 

The three volumes mailed on receipt of $1.50. 

THE TEXTILE RECORD, 425 Walnut St., Philada. 



ESTABLISHED 1786. 

Manufacturing Company, 

CARD CLOTHING 



OF ALL VARIETIES. 



Patent jm Polixtefl. 

Hardened and Tempered Steel Wire 



A SPECIALTY. 



FACTORY AND OFFICE : 

WORCESTER, MASS, U. S. A, 



F, A, LEIGH & CO,, 



70 KILBY STREET, BOSTON, MASS, 




THE LATEST AND MOST IMPROVED 

TEXTILE MACHINERY 



OF ALL DESCRIPTIONS. 




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M\M \ Bonitz dai^d Clothing Co., 

Factories: Philadelphia, Pa., and Leicester, Mass. 

MANUFACTURE ALL KINDS OF 

CARD CLOTHING 

For Woolen, Worsted, Cotton, Flax and Silk Ma- 
chinery, in mild and tempered Steel Wire, 
Set in Leather, Woolen and Cotton 
Cloth, Rubber or Felt. We fur- 
nish all sheets and fillet- 
ings ground smooth 
and ready 
for work 

WITHOUT EXTRA CHARGE. 

MAKERS OF 

THE CELEBRATED 

"Decker's leedle Point" 




MEET ALL COMPETITION PRICES. AND 1 URNISH ONLY 
FIRST-CLASS WORK. SEND FOR SAMPLES. 

PHILADELPHIA OFFICE, 22 gOUTH $EdO]\lD gT. 



FRANKLIN 
MACHINE CO., 



PROVIDENCE, R. I. 



Cotton Mill Machinery 



PARTICULAR ATTENTION PAID TO 



SPINNING AHD CARDING, 



THE IMPROVED 



FOSS & PEVEY 



UNDERFLAT 



COTTON CARD, 

CYLINDER 36 x 36. 

WILL CARD 150 LBS. PER 10 HOURS FOR 

Nos. 12 AND 16 YARN. 

JOHN M. PEVEY, Prop'r, 

LOWELL, MASS. 



See what the Author says, page BO. 



■THE- 



PHILADELPHIA CARD CLOTHING CO. 

D. C. BATEMAN, Manager, 



Makers of every description of 



CARD CLOTHING 



-FOR- 



woolpji, wojisjEP & cotjw cafps, 

From Imported Tempered Steel Wire, 



-AND- 



ENGLISH OAK BARK TANNED LEATHER, 

S. E. Cor. Putnam and Mascler Sts., 



PHILADELPHIA. 



D. F. ROBINSON, 



MANUFACTURER OF 



Card*Clnthing 

OF EVERY DESCRIPTION 




ROR 



COTTON, WOOLEN AND FLAX MACHINERY 

LAWRENCE, MASS. 

— coieiaEsr'OurnDEnsrcE! solicited- 



HARDY MACHINE CO., 



MANUFACTURERS OF THE 



Hardy Improved Traverse Emery Wheel 



CURD GRINDERS 



J 



AND 



Card Grinding Machinery, 

BIDDEFORD, MAINE. 



Fidelity 
Machine Works, 

MANAYUNK, 

PHILADELPHIA, PA., U. S. A. 



R. H. PATTON, Propr. 



COTTON MEN 



tsg- WRITE FOR CIRCULARS.' = S«r 



Hill's 

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fell 



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B«2s! 







JAMES SMITH & CO. 



MANUFACTURERS OF 



CARD CLOTHING 



OF EVERY DESCRIPTION. 



WORKS. 411 TO 421 RACE ST„ COR, CROWN ST, 

manufacturers; MILL AND ENGINEERS' 

SUPPLIES 

office amd store, 137 MARKET ST.. PHI LA., PA. 



